Sunrider: The Mask of Zero
by sephiroth12285
Summary: It has been years since the Demonic Emperor Lelouch had been slain by Zero with a small few aware of the true events that led to his demise, but now Lelouch finds himself alive again. Drawn into a conflict much larger and dangerous than he could have imagined, but even the man said to create miracles will need new allies and they are the Sunrider crew to face a dangerous new enemy
1. Chapter 1 The Demon Resurrected

Disclaimer: I apparently do not own Sunrider or Code Geass as they belong to their rightful owners along with any other mentioned media or series I'll be using.

A/N: I can't believe I am posting another fic already, but it's better I throw this one up and let it gather more dust. Updates might come longer for this one since I have my other stories to focus on, but this was something of a story I was inspired to do with some ideas I got from talking with draconichero21 and Grey Wolf4.

This is my Code Geass and Sunrider crossover which takes place well after R2, which as the title of the chapter suggests that Lelouch is brought back to life. This time it seems he is needed again to stop a threat that doesn't merely threaten the world he came from, but the entire galaxy as the shadow of impending war looms over the horizon. So to defeat a dangerous force that could threaten the whole galaxy, you need a demon for that and who better than the man who could create miracles and destroy and create worlds.

But can Lelouch find the will to fight on when everything he knows is dead and gone with only a few people close to him who are left? Which other CG characters have survived to the time Lelouch has been brought back will be revealed next chapter.

Pairings have been figured out with Lelouch likely to be paired with Sunrider character Icari Isidolde, although there were some characters that I was tempted to pair him with instead but she is probably the best choice unless I change my mind or if someone else seems more suitable to pair than Icari.

So without further delay let's give this story a go and see how it turns out.

Edited and Cleaned up on 2/18/18

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **The Demon Resurrected**

(Galactic Year: 494)

Hidden in deep space aboard a space station within an asteroid belt an experiment unlike anything that has seen before was taking place. Inside the interior of the station, a pair of men were observing an operation taking place. The interior of the central lab was a marvel to behold as it held everything a scientist could ever dream to have such as the one the doctors and surgeons working in the sterilized room before them. Everything within the lab was state of the art and was latest in biomedical, biomechanical, genetic, neural reconstruction, and more was contained within both the lab and the space station.

The men were observing an operation in which cybernetic implants were being grafted onto the skeletal structure of the subject they were working on. The process was to use a combination of cybernetics implanted onto the skeleton to provide reinforcement and restore parts that had been damaged because of the state of minor decay the body has been in. Some different biochemicals were also being introduced to strengthen the bones along with the introduction of a synthetic skeletal lattice to provide further reinforcement.

The subject was dead, but this project sought to do the impossible and bring him back to life.

Anyone else might have laughed at the idea of bringing the dead back to life, but nearly unlimited resources with the amassment of both the highest and most advanced technology to date and the finest in their fields were gathered onto this space station for the single goal of resurrecting the man the doctors were working to revive.

But first, they needed to repair the damage his death had brought about.

Stage one was restoring and reinforcing his skeletal structure while this process using chemical injections and cloned organs to replace the damaged ones. The body was beginning to show signs of life once more, but their most significant challenge was to restore neurological activity to the brain. Slowly, but surely progress was being made. A solution of biochemicals and blood harvested from a brain-dead clone was being used to restart functionality of the internal organs and blood flow. The introduction of nanomachines into his body to further the repair and restoration process as well as ensure successful integration of the cybernetics that lined parts of his skeleton.

"How has the project been proceeding?" A man with a beard asked while keeping his arms folded behind his back.

"Despite some complications, his internal organs have begun functioning once more. We did replace organs around the wound that killed him when we couldn't repair the damage completely with the organs from the clone we harvested." The lead researcher explained while checking some data on a small computer device he drew out of his pocket.

"How close are we to reviving him?"

"We're close sir, although restoring the body is proving easier than we thought but the mind is still open to question."

Pressing some commands on his portable device, he began to show the older gentleman a holographic display of the subject's internal organs and life signs.

"We have been storing his body, in-between operations, in a medical capsule filled with nanomachines laced biochemical solution to help with the restoration and revitalization of skin cells, but so far no signs of the brain coming back to life." The researcher admitted worrying.

"We have invested three years and billions into this project, so I hope that will change."

"You have the very best the alliance has to offer sir. We got his body to start working again, so we'll get his brain up and running." The lead scientist replied. "Project Pandora's Box will be a success."

Inside the operating room just as the doctors finished their work and closed up the wounds. Something unexpected happened as neurological activity was being detected. The subject a black-haired young man who was eighteen years of age was beginning to stir much to the shock of the doctors. The lead researcher and the old man who was witnessing this couldn't believe their eyes.

"N-N-Nunnally…" The young man muttered as he opened his eyes revealing amethyst eyes, but soon they were eclipsed by red glowing sigils in the form of a phoenix taking flight.

"QUICK PUT HIM UNDER!" The lead research quickly shouted his order through an intercom built into the wall near the glass observation panel.

The doctors acted quickly putting the subject who had remarkably come back to life into a deep slumber with a quick injection. Even so, his early awakening nearly compromised everything as his vitals and neurological activity was becoming dangerously erratic.

"That was close, but I didn't think he would regain neurological activity so suddenly?"

"Are his life signs stable?"

"Yes, sir…everything is in the green. Even though his brain has resumed all normal function suddenly, we'll still need to perform some work on him to complete the restoration process, but all of his internal organs and body functions have been restored. It's like he never died."

"Good…keep him alive, and I'll return in a few weeks, but that aside congratulations are in order doctor."

"Thank you, sir." The lead researcher said before the old man left the observation room.

The old man smiled as he was pleased the project had worked successfully, although it succeeded sooner than expected, he didn't complain. More importantly, the young man being brought back to life with his mind and body functioning once more. The power that allowed him to bring the entire world to its knees in under two years had also been restored along with him. As the older gentleman boarded the shuttle to leave the station, he quickly settled into his seat before deciding on what would come next once the final touches had been done to fully restore the young man.

 _He's far from ready, but the rest of the alliance needs to be kept in the dark about his abilities._ The old man thought.

Project Pandora's Box was conceived when a new world found in the unexplored region near the neutral rim presented a being he could use to bring order and peace to the galaxy. When the Solar Alliance first approached their world hoping to include it into the alliance, but as ambassadors met with the various leaders of the planet Earth a small faction communicated with him in private during talks of the possibility of Earth joining the alliance.

They presented him with the body of a young man who could very well change the galaxy, but it wasn't only because of his tactical and strategic prowess but the fact he possessed a power more formidable than any technologically advanced super weapon he had ever seen. He almost didn't believe their claims until he observed video footage of unusual incidents from which people had undergone a practically drastic change of character to describe it.

Admiral Harold Grey had seen many things in his time, but the power to compel absolute obedience was nothing short of amazing.

The people in their world didn't know that their peace came at the price of that young man's life. The same young man who became Emperor through that power which brought an entire world under his tyrannical rule before he was, without warning, assassinated two months later after achieving complete conquest over the planet called Earth. Fewer knew the fact that it was all part of an elaborate plan to create world peace with all of the world's hatred focused on him. He was, in fact, the original identity of the heroic man known as Zero who united most of the world against a tyrannical empire before mysteriously vanishing during a major battle.

Then he miraculously reappeared and assassinated the Demonic Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia.

No one knew that Zero and Lelouch vi Britannia had been one and the same. They didn't realize it was all an elaborate plan to unify the world through a grand deception very few saw coming.

After his demise, his body was taken by those who knew the truth and sought to preserve it so they could study his power and possibility reproduce that power called Geass, although the old admiral suspected there was another reason. Sadly all of their efforts were for naught, but when the Solar Alliance made contact with Earth, the researchers behind the shadowy project thought they could do something with Lelouch vi Britannia's corpse. They were already having trouble trying to keep their possession of it, which impeded their research.

Admiral Grey almost refused at first. However upon seeing what the young man with his power was capable of he relented and accepted the corpse.

But instead of attempting to reproduce his power, which was apparently impossible with his body dead he decided to try for the impossible and bring him back from the dead. He knew there was some research done on the subject, but no one had been willing to put forth the funding and resources for such a project for various reasons which were because of morals or what the consequences of perfecting and unleashing such technology upon the galaxy would do.

The admiral called in some favors and got together the resources and the people to create Project Pandora's Box with the goal of resurrecting Lelouch vi Britannia for the sole purpose of using his Geass and his abilities as a battlefield commander to combat a growing threat in the galaxy. It took him some time to assemble it all, but due to circumstances in the galaxy beginning to change, he found others to aid him.

 _I am thankful the project was_ _successful_ _because trying to keep it hidden from certain parties were becoming more troublesome than it was worth._ The Admiral mused as his shuttle departed the station.

Despite all of the favors and people who were in high positions throughout the alliance he called to aid him with this project, he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep it hidden from not only the Solar Congress but from various Political Interests Groups. Its military might have been formidable, but the problem was that the political parties controlling the elections have allowed for not only a string of weak presidents who sought to fulfill their own petty interests. Thus they were ignoring a growing threat beyond their borders which was a threat to not only the safety of the Solar Alliance but to the galaxy as a whole.

 _Something must be done._

Admiral Grey had feared that Compact, which has been reform reorganized into PACT (People's Alliance for Common Treatment) following their successful sacking of New Eden ending the New Empire once and for all. But the Admiral feared once PACT had consolidated and brought all of the former territories and liberated worlds of the Empire together it would begin to spread into the neutral rim and beyond. Even with their victory, he heard reports of continual military buildup, which some would think it was merely building up defenses for PACT to protect the liberated worlds. But other reports he received from other sources painted a different picture entirely, which included word that PACT was beginning to enforce heavy travel restrictions within their territories. If they had been at war with the New Empire, still the travel restrictions might have made sense, but this only further worried the aging Admiral as he realized this was an effort at information control.

He began ordering their agents and spies who wouldn't be able to maintain their cover to flee PACT space when they can. Even though he had different ideas when he began the project in secret at the time, but it was a possible situation like this that was one of his chief motivations for starting the Pandora's Box Project in the first place. Even before Compact recognized itself into PACT, he and others within the Alliance feared the outcome of PACT now becoming a threat to the alliance and the galaxy at large.

 _A part of me wished it wasn't going to come to this, but I and others saw the signs._ Grey thought as he leaned back in his seat in deep thought.

However, he knew PACT wouldn't be able to begin any kind of expansion campaign at this moment as they would be busy solidifying their hold over their new holdings and establishing a new government to replace the old one which would take time. There was time to prepare, but he knew the best way to release the demon upon the galaxy.

 _According to Earth_ _mythology,_ _Pandora's Box is an artifact that contained all of the evils of the world. But the myth and the words Pandora's Box hold a deeper meaning,_ The Admiral mused as he knew the definition of opening Pandora's Box meant doing something seemingly small and innocent action that would have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences. In a few weeks once the project was complete, and Lelouch vi Britannia was fully revived as a cybernetically enhanced human being, but he was a demon who was capable of so much.

All Lelouch had accomplished within the scope of two years was impressive, to say the least considering both his age and what he had started with.

But there was a problem the Admiral was facing now, and that was to properly instill within Lelouch a new sense of purpose and that fire that drove him to achieve him his goals. His sister he had sacrificed so much for was dead while his successor he had left behind to the mask of Zero was nowhere to be found, but he knew several months ago Earth had fallen to the New Empire as it was trying to desperately acquire quick resources and people it could conscript to replenish their ranks.

 _It was unfortunate they didn't join the alliance, but maybe the_ _loss_ _of Earth's freedom is the key to awakening the demon once more._ Grey thought believing that in the fall of Earth he saw the means to reawaken the beast that was within Lelouch vi Britannia. It was a dangerous game, but considering the threats that were looming over the horizon for the galaxy at large, it was a risky game he was going to have to play.

Another problem was adequately preparing him since combat and politics were very different from what he was used to on Earth.

 _Still,_ _it means nothing if I_ _cannot_ _set him on the road I need him to be on, but I might know someone who could help with him.'_ Grey thought as he had a potential mentor in mind for Lelouch. _'But there is a less pleasant task that must be attended to first._

* * *

A few weeks later at the station, Lelouch vi Britannia was lying in a hospital bed with all of the work and reconstruction of his body complete. His body had been fully restored to such that you couldn't even tell he was a dead a few weeks ago. All of his bodily functions were functioning, and the cybernetics grafted onto his skeleton had successfully adapted accordingly. All in all the process was a complete success. As the scientists onboard awaited further instruction from Admiral Grey, he had sent someone to the station to meet Lelouch, but as events continued on Lelouch was asleep.

In his dreams, he remembered his demise.

At the hands of his own best friend, which was ironic and poetic, but it was as per their agreement when he asked Suzaku to join him in the completion of the Zero Requiem. To become Emperor and an enemy of the entire world so all of humanity's hatred would be focused upon him, but he used his tyrannical rule to get rid of other problems and elements that would be a hindrance to the world peace his plan would create. Chief among these was his older half-brother Schneizel who was the most challenging complication to his scheme, but he triumphed.

He died in the arms of his sister after being run through by the new Zero after passing on the mantle to Suzaku Kururugi to carry on as the new Zero with Schneizel la Britannia, now compelled by his Geass, to aid him.

 _Oh,_ _brother,_ _I love you._

Those were the last words of his beloved sister as he lay dying, which he welcomed.

Suddenly his eyes opened, and he found himself looking up at a ceiling that was unfamiliar to him. He slowly sat up, but he noticed that he felt alive even though Lelouch knew he should have died. Unless this was a hell of some short, then it was nothing like he had been expecting it to be. He felt some discomfort in his limbs, which however only proved that he was alive somehow knowing that Suzaku had dealt him a mortal wound when Lelouch impaled him through the torso with that sword he wielded.

 _What is this? I am somehow alive?_ Lelouch thought while trying to comprehend how he was still alive.

As he began looking around, he saw that nothing in this room belonged to any kind of hospital Lelouch was familiar with, but noticing a window that showed the black void of space, the former Emperor realized he wasn't even on Earth anymore. Recovering from the shock of this realization Lelouch climbed out of bed, although his limbs felt stiff he slowly regained more feeling and strength in them as he walked over to the window.

Unless this was some kind of apparently put together optical illusion of some sort Lelouch's mind was having some trouble processing the fact he was in space aboard a space station. Since he saw no sign of the Earth and there was nothing but asteroids floating around he tried to comprehend where he might be. Of course, grasping how he was even alive as he clearly recalled how he died at the hands of Suzaku before spending his final moments with his sister Nunnally was even more difficult for him to grasp.

Then everything went dark until he awoke here.

He had so many questions, but he didn't know where he could find the answers.

 _How was this possible?_ Lelouch thought before he walked over to the dresser by his bed where he found a mirror. Looking into it he saw both of his eyes encompassed by his Geass power, which not only meant that he didn't have the specialized contacts C.C. gave him but his abilities had returned to him despite his demise. Looking around Lelouch realized he wasn't dressed so he sought to put on a change of clothes, which he found inside the dresser containing black pants and a shirt while finding a pair of shoes nearby.

 _Alright if I am going to find out what is going on I need to find someone and question them._ Lelouch thought as he made his decision.

The only reason he could see that anyone would have kept his corpse after his demise would have been to study his Geass, but he thought Suzaku and Nunnally would have prevented such a thing. Did something happen after his death that he did not foresee? It merely added to the growing number of questions Lelouch had now, but it just fueled his desire for his answers more so. After any remaining weariness or stiffness in his limbs was gone Lelouch proceeded to find the door that would take him out of the room, but when he was about to try to open it an explosion rocked the whole station almost causing Lelouch to fall onto the ground.

Another explosion rocked the station, but the source of this one sounded much closer this time.

 _Is this place under attack or something?_

Lelouch thought as the door opened to see a man clad in black and green make-shift body armor which was assembled using various pieces as most of them didn't match with the rest as a whole. The man had rugged features with short brown hair, and he was armed with what looked like an assault rifle. He was either some kind of mercenary or a pirate.

Lelouch was about to use his Geass when the space pirate was shot in the head.

A few moments later a man in his early forties arrived. He was bald with blue eyes and a fair skin complexion wearing a dark gray suit with a black dress shirt underneath complete with black shoes. In one hand he held an unusual pistol that Lelouch had never seen before while being carried on his back was an assault rifle similar to the one the pirate had been using.

"Hey kid you alright?" The bald man said looking down, but upon noticing his Geass, he quickly reached into the pocket of his coat to hand Lelouch a small case. "Those eyes…you must be Lelouch."

Lelouch accepted the case before asking.

"Who are you?"

"I am Michael Garibaldi, a freelance investigator who specializes in finding things or people others have lost."

"So what are you doing here then?" Lelouch asked finding a pair of contacts inside the case he was handed.

"Well, I am here to find you and get you out of here before these pirates decide to blow this station to bits," Michael said before reaching into his coat to pull out another pistol similar to the one he was using. "You know how to use one of these?"

"I assume it works the same way as it was designed?"

"It should be like the handgun you used in the past. C.C. told me you had some experience with them, and she provided the contact lenses you are holding there." The bald man replied surprising Lelouch.

"You know C.C?"

"Let's just say she hired me to get you out of here among other things, but I can give you the full story once we are off this station. This place is being attacked by pirates, and I don't think you want to be here when they decide to blow this place up." The man warned as Lelouch put on the contact lenses, which allowed him to suppress his Geass until he needed it so he could avoid accidentally using it on others.

Lelouch was wary of trusting a complete stranger, although when another explosion rocked the station, he saw that he had no other choice. He hated it, but he would just need to be on his guard until he could get some answers. Since it was clear someone went through a lot of trouble to bring him back, he didn't think this private investigator intended to kill him if his task was to really get him to safety.

"Alright led the way then," Lelouch said as he held the gun in both hands after checking what he assumed to be the safety was turned off.

"Follow me!" Michael instructed before using hand gestures to guide Lelouch as the two made their way down the wall while mindful to be aware of pirates.

A pair of two armed pirates wearing pieces of body armor they likely scavenged from somewhere was spotted entering the hallway, so before they had a chance to notice Lelouch and Michael the two men fired their guns, Lelouch missed his mark, but Michael managed to shoot both men killing them. A lighter explosion rocked the space station, which was more than enough to prompt both men to hurry as the time they had left before the station was destroyed was beginning to countdown.

The men ran through the halls while keeping both their eyes and ears peeled for any more pirates, but thankfully the duo did not encounter any along the way.

They reached what appeared to be a small hanger bay designed for small transport ships where the ship Michael kept was docked and waiting for them. However, they had one last obstacle in their path blocking their way. Upon a platform was a diminutive blonde haired girl of at least nineteen years of age, no one could tell her age from a glance due to her child-like body who was three heads too short, wearing black baggy jeans and a purple tank-top with black boots and gloves on her hands.

She had blonde haired styled into a pageboy haircut, and she had light gray eyes. Despite her somewhat small stature the woman's exposed arms should muscle, which explained how she was able to carry a belt-fed machine gun that required two hands while hauling the ammo inside a backpack she wore on her back. She might look like a child, but still, something about her suggested she was anything but a child on the inside. Even Lelouch could tell she was dangerous and the fact she looked like a child made her even more so, which Lelouch decided to trust his instincts and not engage her head on.

Garibaldi and Lelouch ducked behind the doorway; although the girl didn't see them, it was clear she was just guarding the hanger to prevent anyone from escaping the space station. Fortunately, they saw no one else within the shuttle hanger, so it was just a matter of getting around her.

"You don't have anything that could help us get pass her?" Lelouch whispered the older man as the two hid.

"Well I wish that I had brought a rocket launcher since that would easily solve our problem, but I didn't think to bring it," Garibaldi replied sarcastically causing Lelouch to roll his eyes at him in response.

"My Geass won't work from here. I'll probably get gunned down before I can give out an order let alone make eye contact from here." Lelouch said considering his options while trying to think of something they could do to get past her.

Suddenly their situation worsened as they could hear pirates down the hall from which they came, so whatever the two were going to do they had to do it now. Lelouch studied the catwalk which the short girl was patrolling and noticed how he could get up there, but the problem is he would likely be shot before he could use his Geass on her.

"I have an idea, but I don't think you'll like it," Lelouch admitted as a plan was forming in his mind.

"Can't be worse than having a bunch of pissed off pirates coming one way while a shorter pirate packing a heavy machine gun is blocking our only way to escape?" Garibaldi said jokingly, but he had a bad feeling what Lelouch had in mind.

"If you can distract her I think I can get up there and use my Geass on her."

"Distract her?" Garibaldi asked with an expression that was questioning Lelouch's sanity.

"If you have any better ideas then speak now!" Lelouch said seriously while using his right hand to gesture at the sound of the pirates approaching from behind giving them two minutes tops before they were caught.

"Alright, but you better be fast," Garibaldi said with a sigh knowing he was going to hate this.

"Trust me I will," Lelouch said before he slipped away while hiding behind some boxes moving closer to a stairwell that led up to the catwalk.

As Lelouch moved into position Garibaldi found a more secure area to draw the girl's attention as Lelouch was in place to head up the stairs. Taking a deep breath Garibaldi readied his gun before attempting to shoot the girl, but as they feared the girl instantly spotted the bald-headed man taking aim at her, so the girl dodged before unleashing a stream of bullets from her gun while laughing maniacally.

"YOU THINK I DIDN'T SEE YOU BALDLY!" The girl screamed with a deranged and bloodthirsty look on her face.

"Oh great, I had to deal with one who is full-blown psychotic." Garibaldi mused cursing his luck that of all of the pirates that would be on this space station he would be distracting the one that was apparently bat-shit crazy.

She tried to shoot out Garibaldi's stack of metal crates hoping to gun down the bald man, but thankfully the pile of boxes he had chosen to take cover behind was much sturdier than they looked. They could weather most of the bullets, but even his temporary safe haven would only last for so long. But the sound of the machine gun firing covered the noise of Lelouch ascending the steps as he reached the catwalk.

The girl was so focused on trying to shoot through the crates to hit her target that she failed to notice Lelouch approaching her silently. He readied his Geass, but when he got behind her, he took his most significant risk and spoke.

"I command you…" Lelouch began causing Cosette Cosmos to turn around looking Lelouch in the eye. Had she reacted then she might have killed Lelouch, but because of her large weapon and needing both hands to hold it her movements were delayed giving Lelouch enough time to cast his Geass on her. "...To help me and my companion hiding behind the crates escape this station and your associates!" The former Emperor commanded.

"What the fuc-"

The last thing Cosette saw was Lelouch's eyes which were encompassed with Geass before the order took hold and her mind went blank as she was utterly enslaved to his Geass.

"Yes, sir!" Cosette said obediently which surprised Garibaldi. He wouldn't have believed it unless he saw it himself because one minute ago the girl was acting bloodthirsty and vicious yet now she was utterly emotionless while sounding more robotic than human.

"I guess that is why they put so much money into bringing him back," Garibaldi said while fully realizing the kind of power Lelouch had and how dangerous it could be.

"We better go; she'll cover our escape for us," Lelouch said leaving the blonde girl where she stood before hurrying to rejoin Garibaldi.

It was not a moment too soon as over a dozen pirates suddenly poured into the hanger looking for the man who had killed some of their fellow pirates. But as they turned to chase the fleeing Lelouch and Garibaldi down they failed to notice a Geass controlled Cosette Cosmos leveling her machine gun on her comrades. Garibaldi didn't even look back, but whatever doubts he had about Lelouch's Geass that might have been left were wiped out away when Cosette opened fire on her own comrades gunning down the surprised pirates who had little time to react.

Garibaldi quickly led Lelouch to his craft which looks like a sleek black plane with large circular wings, and it was bigger than a school bus he had seen back on Earth. However its design was sleek and aerodynamic, so perhaps it was fast enough to get them out of here. Another explosion shook the station meaning it was now or never to escape. As they approached Garibaldi used a remote in his coat to unlock his ship while a boarding ramp was lowered.

The two men scrambled up the loading platform, but after doing a quick sweep to check for any pirates or bombs.

The bald man climbed into the cockpit of the ship while Lelouch found a chair in the passenger area before strapping himself in.

The ship's engines roared to life as it began to take off before flying out of the hanger making a mad dash for open space. The Pirates might have gone after them, but Cosette convinced her fellow pirates over a communicator she was carrying that the ship that was launched was a decoy to cover an attempted escape by the researchers of the station. Coincidentally that turned out to be true to an extent because after the shuttle launched another ship was trying to flee, so the pirates pursued it instead, but they would never capture it as it self-destructed the moment it was seized by the pirates destroying everything onboard.

The shuttle wasted no time spooling up its warp dive before making an emergency warp to escape the area after it was clear of the asteroid field. Once the ship was long gone the Geass order that had taken control of the blonde girl faded, and Cosette Cosmos was back in control of her body and aware of her surroundings once more.

She looked around for the black-haired boy, but she found no one. She did see the bodies of her comrades littering the floor below her causing the diminutive pirate's eyes to widen in shock. Her horror grew when she couldn't even remember what happened after that boy said his command to her. It was then a terrible thought came to mind.

"D…did…did I do this," Cosette Cosmos said with a low-pitch and shaking voice as she was trying to find out a way of explaining what happened after blacking out, but no answer came to her.

After accepting the possible fact that she somehow did and yet did so while being completely unaware of it because of that black haired man with the glowing red eyes who did something to her. Cosette Cosmos's eyes hardened in rage as she gripped her machine gun tightly as she made a quiet vow to herself that if she ever found that man again…there would be hell to pay.

* * *

Across the galaxy inside his personal office aboard his ship, Admiral Grey received a short signal that confirmed the destruction of the escape shuttle as it was designed to self-destruct once it had been captured by enemy forces as a precaution he never warned the station's occupants of to protect the secrets of their work. Before the attack, Grey secretly had all of the research data, and essential personnel moved off the station, which he knew by now the station was going to self-destruction very soon after the automatic destruct systems destroyed all of the physical hard drives and data storage aboard as precaution.

Reclining in his chair the aged Admiral took a deep breath, but despite how close everything came to falling apart today his primary objective was a success, Project Pandora's Box was a success, but most importantly the demon had now been unleashed.

 _It's all up to that woman, Garibaldi and fate to set that man on the right path._

* * *

A/N: Yes the OC I made for this story was in fact based off THE Michael Garibaldi from the Babylon 5 series, and he is one of my favorite characters who I thought would be perfect for helping Lelouch get interrogated into the new world he has been awoken in. He has been adapted for this story through, but given the characters, he'll be dealing with he should bring a right balance to some of the other characters involved.

Also, Lelouch has made a bitter enemy with Cosette Cosmos, a space pirate who due to some "medical issues" had her growth stunned and has kept her with her child-like appearance despite being much older than she appeared. I won't say much more about it without spoiling the Sunrider game, which you can download from Stream or online after buying it. The events that led to her connection and her deranged mindset will be revealed much later in the story.

Lelouch will reunite with C.C, who I am sure some of you are guessing likely had something to do with his body ending up in the hands of the Solar Alliance, but why his body was even kept for so long is a question that will be answered in the next chapter. She'll be joined by another CG character as well, and I am sure some of you are guessing who it is.

We'll skip ahead nine years in the next chapter giving Lelouch plenty of time to adapt and adjust to his new surroundings. But we will cover the reunion in the next chapter, so don't worry.

I hope this fic will go well, but I do apologize for the late updates this one might have. But if I manage to get them done sooner while working on my other works then I will post promptly you can be sure of that.

So read and review and tell me what you think, things get a little more difficult next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2 The Neutral World

A/N: this is the first of the rewritten chapters, technically events in the previous version will still happen but they have been pushed back to make way for how Lelouch adjusted and assumed the mantle of Zero years head instead of breaking up the flashback sequences.

This happens shortly after events of chapter one and it shall be the introduction where our other main characters will appear as Lelouch's new classmates along with someone else from Lelouch's past who appears.

* * *

Chapter 2

The Neutral World

Four days had passed since Lelouch and Garibaldi's narrowing escape from the research station, but after a series of quick warps to shake off any possible pursuit the shuttle made for its destination. Eventually arriving at the neutral rim of Cera, although they have arrived sooner but time was needed for Lelouch to the right papers prepared for him so the local authorities wouldn't give him any trouble when their ship docked at the spaceport of the planet's capital Cera City. Being on a planet feeling the weight of gravity upon him once more was comforting, but the alien world he was on now seemed so familiar and yet different from Earth.

He took a moment to adjust the collar on his white dress shirt he was wearing while he wore a black jacket over it along with matching pants and shoes. Lelouch was once again going by the name of Lelouch Lamperouge as his legal name thanks to the documents and passports he now had complete with forged background and more. The passports had taken the longest, but with Lelouch's impending revival C.C. and Garibaldi had most of his documents and records prepared for him using the latter's contacts and resources to have them ready.

Looking around after he and Garibaldi left the spaceport Lelouch couldn't help but look around to view the world they were on.

In some ways it looked no different than his own home planet Earth did, but on the other hand he felt it was different and there were things on this planet his world did not have which only reminded him he was on an alien planet.

"She is waiting in a hotel room downtown, so let's go." Garibaldi said as he gestured for Lelouch to follow him.

Taking a rental car the duo made their way to the edge of the city's business district before pulling into a parking garage that sat across the street from the hotel in question. It was modest, but nothing remarkable as Lelouch and Garibaldi made their way inside. On the fourth floor they disembarked the elevator the duo made their way to a room at the end of the hall where Lelouch and the immortal girl responsible for giving him the power that damned him and yet blessed him at the same time.

The power to change the world for the better by destroying the old one and revenge called Geass.

Upon entering C.C. turned around and gave Lelouch a pleased smirk, although Lelouch didn't say anything in response but he could already tell that the green haired girl had not changed much since they had last seen one another.

"Welcome back from the dead Lelouch."

"I was better off dead, so why do all this to bring me back?" Lelouch demanded after Garibaldi closed the door behind them.

"Officially it was claimed your body was kept to study its Geass, but even then very few people knew about it. However the real reason was different, because some people didn't want to let you go like your sister Nunnally, but overtime that original intent changed." C.C. asked with her usual matter-of-fact tone while crossing her arms over the white suit she was wearing.

"Nunnally kept my body in cold storage didn't she?"

"Yes after she realized your true intentions your sister was devastated to say the least, so she secretly had your body kept in cryogenic storage to preserve it until a way could be found to restore you to life. Your sister felt it was unfair for you to have made such a sacrifice, so she wanted to give you some hope at a second chance."

"I see…" Lelouch said solemnly as he didn't doubt in the least his younger sister would have been crushed once she realized his intentions. He knew Nunnally had figured it out in his final moments, so perhaps seeking a way to restore him or at least make an effort he should have been expected. "This is all rather extreme just to bring me back to life like this."

"Well as I said the intentions of bringing you back began to change after Nunnally died of old age and then asked her daughter to continue trying to bring you back."

' _A daughter…'_ Lelouch thought as he began wondering who Nunnally might have married to have bore a child with, but he quickly pushed that thought aside for now to focus on getting the answer he sought behind why he was restored to life.

"Late into your niece's reign Earth made contact with representatives from the Solar Alliance when explorers from said government had found Earth in a region of unexplored space." C.C. said before pausing for a moment to sit down in a plush red chair while gesturing for Lelouch to sit in the chair opposite of her. "I think you can imagine how the people probably reacted."

"Some were awed by it, but others not so much." Lelouch answered with a bored expression before sitting down in the chair.

"Yes, but they were even more divided when they were asked to join the Solar Alliance. I assume Garibaldi filled you in on the top factions in the galaxy?"

"Not very much as we were busy dodging pirates who attacked the space station I was revived at."

"I guess you can say it's similar to the United Federation of Nations you created, but on a much larger scale. It's a military, economic and research alliance between several worlds, centered around the world of Solaris in the core worlds with its leader elected as president during an election while the rest of the government is managed through the Solar Congress." C.C. explained before adding. "They have hundreds of worlds allied together and each of them has a representative, but much like the problems the European Union had there has been a lot of political and bureaucracy deadlock due to various interest groups politicians and other issues."

"I see, so how are they involved?"

"One of the main parties involved secretly met with your niece, because of a growing concern the discovery of Earth by the larger galaxy had meant for it." C.C. answered before she hesitated for a moment before continuing. "It seemed that Earth was dangerously close to the boarder of the second strongest power in the galaxy called the New Empire on the edge of the neutral rim."

"The New Empire?"

"Well I suppose you could call it a galaxy version of Britannia which in the beginning it had humble beginnings and good intentions behind it's founding, but overtime its rulers became drunk with power. They ruled their people with an iron fist. With their capital they called New Eden becoming the home of the rich and powerful, where the Imperial elites would live in lavish luxury. The rest of Imperial society lived in abject poverty and slavery, their minds brainwashed by propaganda and their livelihoods taken for the benefit of the rich."

"It does sound very much like Britannia with some differences I presume?"

"Yes, but that changed with the birth of the Solar Alliance as a number of free worlds rallied around the banner of the new alliance marshaling an army together to fight back against the New Empire leading to the Alliance-Imperial war ending in victory for the Solar Alliance after many years of war." C.C. explained, but needed a moment to regain her breath so Garibaldi took over.

"Following their defeat the New Empire was forced to focus on its own internal problems as its strings of defeats at the hands of the alliance caused power struggles to erupt within the New Empire soon followed by internal rebellions and uprisings which were being discreetly funded by the Alliance."

"I see where this going." Lelouch said as he pieced together what the subject was leasing to. "The New Empire was trying to hold itself together, but with the power struggles and rebellions they needed some fresh conquests to stabilize themselves."

"Correct so they were planning on seizing Earth, so the Solar Alliance was trying to convince Earth to join but due to Earth's desire to be independent along with interference from the other neutral worlds Earth ultimately refused."

"Those fools…" Lelouch muttered in anger as his hands were gripping the armrests of the chair rightly.

"It wasn't that simple..." C.C. mused with a sigh before saying. "It was a really big mess, but regardless Earth's fate was effectively sealed and so realizing this your niece secretly spoke to some members of the Alliance representing its military presenting them with your preserved remains and the details of your Geass and what you were capable of."

"I see so it was the Solar Alliance that brought me back?"

"Yes and no, but as I am sure you already realized it was a small faction within it that secretly had your brought back after much effort and works behind the scenes which I helped with."

"I imagine so, but I assume you I was brought back to bring down the New Empire?"

"No, but rather we need you to bring down PACT."

"PACT?"

"Yes it stands for People's Alliance for Common Treatment, but it began as the resistance movement known as Compact before overthrowing the New Empire becoming PACT in its place. In fact the New Empire just fell a few months ago before the leader of Compact, Veniczar S. Arcadius, recognized it and their new captured holdings into PACT." C.C. answered.

"So from Liberators they are becoming Conquers now?"

"Yes they are as some in the alliance fear is happening with PACT launching a very aggressive military expansion of their forces not long after they won over the New Empire, which the alliance convinced isn't for defense."

"Then I take it they plan on expanding and conquering the galaxy, but why would this concern me? Everything I have ever cared for is dead and gone, but yet," Lelouch said before his voice and hands tightened in anger, "you sought to bring me back."

"Part of it was because it was what your sister wanted, but now with Earth a part of PACT being used to fuel their aggressive war machine destroying the world you sacrificed a lot for I thought you would want to correct that."

Lelouch was silent, but a part of him was angry at the fate of the Earth he had sacrificed so much to change yet he reminded himself his sister was dead.

"I don't see a point C.C, because even if I did succeed I can't exactly go back let alone show my face on Earth."

"Then stay with me on this planet for awhile and think it over. Besides we still have a lot more catching up to do." C.C. said with a frown on her face, but she knew Lelouch's responses and reactions could have been a lot worse.

' _I guess I am in for a lot of work.'_

"Fine…" Lelouch said dismissively, although he wasn't happy about it he knew his sister would want him to live so it was out of consideration for what his sister wanted he would live.

A knock at the door prevented further conversation between them.

"Oh that reminds me Lelouch there are a few people still alive you know."

"Like who?"

Garibaldi opened the door and in walked a familiar busty blonde Lelouch had never expected he would see again considering his current circumstances.

"M-M-Milly…" Lelouch exclaimed in shock wondering for a moment if Milly Ashford had somehow obtained a code of immorality somehow.

Milly Ashford looked a few years older being in her early twenties, but otherwise she was unchanged for the most part. She was wearing a white long skirt, a blue dress shirt with matching white heeled shoes.

"Oh Lelouch you're alive again." Milly exclaimed happily rushing into the room to give Lelouch a big hug leaving the former Emperor speechless.

But as quickly it had happened it was over and Lelouch swiftly received a slap to the face.

Lelouch was still speechless, but he suspected what that slap was for.

"WHAT THE HELL WHERE YOU THINKING ASSASSINATING YOURSELF LIKE THAT!?" Milly snapped at the former Emperor as she proceeded to verbally chew him out for his actions. "I should have known you were Zero," The blonde haired woman said as she began tearing up, "but I just didn't want to believe it I guess because I was scared about the fact if it was true."

"I assume you know why I did it…all of it?" Lelouch replied calmly.

"Yes it was all for Nunnally and revenge, but you changed a little near the end didn't you?"

"You are correct, because I realized my efforts were no longer for Nunnally but for the world and those I care for."

"You just killed yourself…going down at the most hated tyrant in history?" Milly said with tears beginning to flow down her cheeks.

"I doubt for me to say sorry would be sufficient would it?"

"You damn right it wouldn't, so you are going to be attending school." The busty blonde pointed out as her attitude began to turn back to her normal cheerful and mischievous self.

"Wait…what?" Lelouch said as that

"You're going to be attending Cera City Academy as a senior in its high school division." Milly explained straightforwardly, but Lelouch was instantly suspicious that the blonde woman had an ulterior motive.

"What's your game Milly?" Lelouch demanded as his eyes narrowed upon the busty blonde who simply shrugged it off with her signature smirk, which was enough to convince the former Emperor that she was up to something.

"Oh nothing, but I think for someone who was Emperor of the World and a founding member of the United Federation of Nations being a high school dropout is unacceptable, so it's back to school for your last year of high school."

"Really," Lelouch said raising an eyebrow, "I don't know what you are thinking but you got another reason don't you?"

"Why whatever do you mean?"

"I have known you long enough that nothing is hardly ever straightforward with you?"

* * *

Two weeks later following his meeting with C.C; Lelouch was enrolled into Cera City Academy where the former Emperor would spend his days adjusting to his new life, but Lelouch wasn't sure if he wanted any part in what was expected of him. After all it wasn't his war let alone he didn't have any reason to fight. His sister and everyone else who had been dear to him was dead, although C.C. was alive it didn't change his mind. His first day was uneventful so far, so much so that Lelouch couldn't believe he was thinking it but.

' _I actually miss Ashford Academy and the insanity.'_

The antics of Milly Ashford, the Student Council President, were troublesome at times to say the least but it kept his time from attending Ashford Academy from becoming repetitive.

Still the academy he was attending in Cera City was in some ways better than Ashford Academy as it had a friendly and more cheerful environment which Lelouch credited to the lack of spoiled and racist children from Britannian privileged families. His attire consisted of the academy's usual uniform with black pants, matching shoes, a black jacket with white trim. It also had a white dress shirt underneath with a sleeveless tan button-up sweater over it and lastly for Lelouch a purple tie of his own choice.

Classes had already ended for the day, but Lelouch was thankful for Garibaldi's lessons in preparing him for school life on Cera since their method of teaching and the new technology involved would have overwhelmed Lelouch making him look like an idiot.

' _I guess I have to join a club now, but the only one left with openings is oddly enough the Student Council.'_

The only thing Lelouch found odd about the school was the fact that the Student Council had so many vacant seats with only the position of President and Vice-President filled.

' _I guess I'll find out soon enough.'_

Lelouch arrived at the student council club room, but upon entering he found only one person inside. He was a year younger than Lelouch, but he had blue eyes, a fair skin complexion, and white pale hair. Like Lelouch he wore the same uniform as him with the exception that his tie was blue.

"Is this the Student Council Room?"

"Why yes it is," The white haired young woman said rising from his seat to greet the new arrival before asking, "Are you the new student I heard would be joining us?"

"Yes my name is Lelouch Lamperouge and you are?"

"Kayto Shields, a pleasure to meet you." Kayto said extending his hand to shake Lelouch's in a friendly gesture.

"Likewise," Lelouch said returning the gesture before asking, "So where is the president?"

"She'll be along soon."

"I see, but something confuses me…why are there only two of you?" Lelouch said bringing his hand up to his chin to contemplate the question.

"Ah well…" Kayto began nervously before rubbing the back of his head. "Let's just say our Student Council President can be both serious and quite…dedicated to her job." The white haired student admitted while he had chosen his last words very carefully.

Before Lelouch could inquire further the door opened and walked in who Lelouch correctly guessed was the Student Council President in question.

She was the same age as Lelouch was being a senior of the academy, but from a first glance Lelouch could see what Kayto meant by being serious and dedicated. In fact Lelouch was almost convinced he was staring at a complete and total opposite of Milly Ashford.

Ava Crescentia stood at the doorway immaculately dressed in her school uniform, which made Lelouch wonder if she came from a military family. She wore the standard girls" uniform as did other female students which included the same jacket, white shirt and button up v-neck sleeveless sweater worn by Kayto and Lelouch, but for her tie she picked a red one to match her cherry colored eyes. The rest of her uniform consisted of a skirt matching her jacket with a white line going around it near the edge, she had brown shoes and black thigh-high stockings with white trim on the end. Her soft shoulder-length brown hair was also perfectly straight framing the fair-skinned porcelain features on her face.

Looking at the cold and disciplined face the young woman had was enough for Lelouch to figure out what had probably caused some of the previous council members to leave. Although she was easy on the eyes the former emperor was almost sure she was probably single if her character and personality matched her expression and cold stare she had on her face.

' _She must be from a military family because no one, not even the children from wealthy families who were not spoiled or arrogant on their looks did not put such effort and detail into making their appearance so orderly like that.'_ Lelouch thought as the only students he noticed to take such extreme detail to their appearance were usually those from military families he had seen in Ashford Academy, but Ava was on a whole other level.

"Are you the new student joining the student council?"

"Yes, my name is Lelouch Lamperouge…it is a pleasure to meet you." Lelouch said with a polite greeting.

"I am Ava Crescentia the student council president and I suspect you and my Vice-President have already met?"

"Yes we just finished introductions before you arrived."

"Good, but because we are very short-handed on the student council I won't bother assigning you a position like treasury or sectary so think of you and Kayto being of the same rank and responsibilities of the other vacant council positions will be shared between you both."

"I understand…" Lelouch replied without compliant since he had expected such a move and it was a logical one all things considered.

"I trust this will not be a problem?" Ava inquired folding her arms across her chest.

"No I am actually used to pulling double duty on a student council. I was part of the Student Council as Vice President of the previous school I had been attending so if the processes and duties are similar in any way I should have no problems handling it."

"Double duty?" Kayto asked with a curious expression on his face.

"Let's just say the Student Council President I worked under was curious and excessively playful with a tendency to go over the top with school events and even create some very unusual events. Her boisterous personality defined her most, but she did leave me with a lot of the paperwork and reports to deal with." Lelouch said recalling Milly.

"Unusual Events?" Ava inquired now curious herself.

"Well aside from I suppose your standard events like school festivals she had come up with some strange events like the cross-dressers" ball, the absolute silence party and swim suit day."

"Swim suit day?" Kayto asked with a look of confusion, although he suspected what the event entailed.

"All students and teachers wear swim suits throughout the school day." Lelouch replied with a matter-of-fact tone surprising Ava and Kayto who looked at him with the idea that he was making it up. "I am dead serious why do you think I transferred?"

That wasn't true, but it was part of his cover story.

The background story concocted for Lelouch was that he was born of Cera parents and grew up on the planet, but had spent most of school years off world living with a relative who was studying aboard. Even through Cera was an isolationist state it wasn't unheard of for its people to travel off world to study on different worlds especially those involved with trading, space travel and other jobs and majors that would require time off world for real-world training opportunities. Even the businesses on Cera conduct trading with other worlds for exotic goods, metals and ores not found on their planet so it wasn't unusual for some of its people to be studying aboard.

"People dressing up all day in swim suits couldn't have been all bad?" Kayto said with a shrug of his shoulders, but Ava's opinion was different.

"How could she have gotten approval for such a…it's…just unbelievable." Ava said with a face palm indicating she was clearly at a loss for words.

"Heh the Cross-Dressing Ball was probably even more so as I am sure you two can guess what that involved." Lelouch replied with a smirk.

Kayto was silent for a moment envisioning the students of his school with female students dressing up as guys and guys dressing up as girls. He quickly dismissed the thought when a mental image of him dressed in a school uniform came into mind.

"Wow…ok I could see you leaving."

"No it was Cupid Day that was the final straw." Lelouch said with a dramatic tone of voice, although that wasn't exactly true but he thought it would make for a good story just the same.

"Cupid Day?" Ava inquired having a bad feeling about it in the pit of her stomach, but curiosity outweighed her hesitant as she wondered what was so bad about Cupid Day.

"Cupid Day was a time for couples to declare themselves by exchanging heart shaped hats with one another, blue for boys and pink for girls obviously. I was unfortunately a popular target for some reason so I had a few girls eyeing to jump me before the event began, but what complicated matters was Milly putting a bounty on my head."

"A bounty?" Kayto asked while Ava was beginning to see where this was going.

"She offered priority on the budget and extra funds for the club that brings her my hat." Lelouch replied with a sigh as he recalled the frenzy Milly had wiped the school into with that announcement.

The white haired young man said looking at Lelouch with disbelief in his eyes. "You're serious?"

"I wish...she got the whole school in a frenzy hunting me down. I had to dodge the science club, rugby club, horseback riding club and even the Fantasy Seduction Club."

"Fantasy Seduction Club?" Kayto said as he tried to envision that one, but a quick glare from Ava stopped him.

"It's exactly what you expect it to be, so needless to say returning to Cera couldn't have come at a better time." Lelouch said concluding his story, although it was technically not true but he knew to create an effective lie you have to mix elements of the truth to make it work. "I am confident there will not be such chaos during my time here?"

"You can rest at ease that your time here will be much more quiet and uneventful than your time at your last school." Ava said confident, but yet she wondered if some of what Lelouch told them was true or not.

Regardless Ava was confident that Lelouch was a member of the council unlikely to leave.

"HELLO EVERYONE!"

The door opened at that instant as a voice familiar to Lelouch, but her arrival caused Ava to cringe.

' _Oh dear god no.'_ Lelouch said as he knew Milly had something planned for him and his suspicions were realized with her standing at the doorway. Ava looked annoyed with Milly, which was enough for the former Emperor to realize that Milly was a regular in the school. Taking into account her older age Lelouch began to dread the position she had in the school which he could only guess was one of an administrator or a teacher.

' _Please don't let her be the one in charge.'_ Lelouch thought while silently hoping she was just a teacher, because if she was anything higher up then he feared the situation would get worse for him.

Lelouch had a hard time envisioning Milly as a teacher unless she was the principal of the school.

"Miss Ashford, how are you today?" Ava said for a forced smile as Lelouch could see the fiction going on between them, which considering how much of a handful Milly was as student council president he couldn't even begin to imagine just how much Ava had to put up with from Milly being a much higher position of power.

Lelouch Lamperouge was already feeling sympathy for Ava.

' _Judging from their reactions when I recounted some of my time from Ashford Academy I guess it's safe to assume that Kayto and Ava hadn't been pressed into Milly's troubling sense of fun.'_ The former Emperor thought which Lelouch felt a sense of relief if such was the case, but then considering he was now a student in the academy he feared that would change now.

The smirk Milly flashed him for a brief second made Lelouch nervous.

' _If I wasn't in hell when I was dead I think I am now.'_

"Good afternoon to you too Ava, but seriously as student council president you need to smile more and be cheerful."

"An overly cheerful personality and presentation will lead the students to believe you are a lax leader who isn't taking their duties seriously." Ava said with emotionless tone and face to match, she was literally Milly's polar opposite as a student council president in almost every way.

Noticing Lelouch's expression of confusion and worry, Kayto put a hand on his shoulder to pull Lelouch away from the two women to talk privately whispering to one another.

"So I guess you're wondering what is going on right?"

"You could say that?" Lelouch said which it was true to some extent but Kayto didn't know that Milly was the Student Council President he had been speaking of until a short time ago.

"The blonde is Milly Ashford who is the teacher of home economics class, but she is the overseer of the Student Council and for festivals and school events."

' _That last part is hardly surprising given Milly's preference for planning out school events and festivals.'_ Lelouch thought as most of the administrative and paperwork was dumped on him and some of the other council members, but whenever a festival or school event was coming up Milly was always front and center in planning and getting everything prepared for said event.

Lelouch was just thankful she wasn't the principal of the school.

' _I guess that explains she hasn't been able to go over the top as she normally does with school events.'_

The former Emperor observed how Ava was trying to restrain a good amount of frustration she wanted to direct towards Milly, but considering she was a teacher and a member of the school administration Ava couldn't do so.

' _Even so…you have my sympathy Ava.'_

* * *

Later that evening when Lelouch returned to his apartment that C.C. had set up for him which was a short walk away from the school he was surprised to see someone waiting inside for him. Lelouch instinctively reached for a gun, but he realized he didn't have one. But the man sitting on the simple padded chair raised a hand gesturing for the former Emperor to calm down.

"Relax Lelouch I am not here to harm you, but I doubt you recognize me."

"Who are you?"

"Heh take a guess, because…" The man began to say as Lelouch began studying his appearance. He wore a brown trench coat over a white dress shirt with the top two buttons undone with black pants and matching shoes. The man was quite old, which Lelouch suspected he must be in his eighties or older even, but he seemed to be at the same time in remarkably good shape for someone of such advance age. His hair was pale white which was another indication of his considerable age for an old man and his skin was pale, but something about his green eyes was very familiar. "You ordered me to live."

A look of realization emerged on Lelouch's face as he asked. "Suzaku is that you?"

"You know I should be the one with that look on my face considering I was the one who killed you." Suzaku Kururugi said with a matter-of-fact while cocking an eyebrow in fascination.

"I can't imagine you aren't exactly pleased to see me alive?" Lelouch asked his face turning serious.

"Yes and no," Suzaku replied sagely before he added, "when you live as long as I have you see things and learn new things so while I might have been upset with your revival, but frankly I can't even believe I am going to say this but I think we need you back more than ever."

"It's about PACT isn't it?"

Suzaku nodded his head.

Lelouch decided to not stand at the doorway gawking at his visitor, so he took a seat on the small sofa near Suzaku allowing the two to hold a proper conversation with the former Emperor needing to stand the entire time.

"When Earth fell to the New Empire everything fell apart at the seams. Britannia, the EU and the Chinese Federation including the United Federation of Nations were completely undone." Suzaku began as he retold events of the downfall of Earth with a grim expression and tone. "I was already so old by then, but we didn't have any weapons to defend ourselves against them. They used orbital bombardments to wipe out major cities and military bases before sending in ground forces, which by then we were too scattered or ill-equipped to fight them off."

"Why didn't you push for Earth to join the Solar Alliance?"

"I tried, but the UFN chairman and some of the nation leaders were very wary of the alliance even with the threat of the New Empire. I even tried to propose a compromise where we would be under the protection of the Solar Alliance while we could begin a slow adjustment to the larger galaxy we had become part of. I guess too many people were nervous or scared, but I suppose that was the one time I wish you were around."

Lelouch said nothing at first, but he instead studied Suzaku's old and tried expression seeing the frustration, anger and sadness. Deciding not to fault Suzaku for what happened because he could see the signs of someone who had tried everything, but in the end it amounted to nothing.

"Those idiots…" Lelouch muttered in seething anger.

Suzaku felt some sense of relief that Lelouch wasn't holding him responsible, although he had seriously doubted he would but considering what had happened to Earth the former Knight of Zero knew that anyone else might have reacted differently.

"I think you were right…" Suzaku said with a look and tone sounding as if he had just drank a glass full of a sour lemon juice.

"About what?"

"Reason is the slave of emotion, especially fear." Suzaku mused before he continued. "No matter how hard I tried, all of my attempts were shut down by their xenophobia."

"And they just wanted to hide their heads in the sand didn't they?" Lelouch commented with a look of disgust.

"Yes and you already know what happened next?"

"I think I probably shouldn't know the personal details." Lelouch said as a part of him feared to hear what became of his sister and others he had been close to knowing that considering the possibilities and possible fates being killed might have been preferable to capture. Even though he tried not to think about it the various outcomes of what people might have endured was unsettling to say the least.

"I managed to escape and join Compact. I was commanding one of their ships when we finally attacked and sacked New Eden bringing down the New Empire once and for all, but things began radically changing."

"It began with PACT"s leader?" Lelouch asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes…I never met him in person, so what I know only comes from word of mouth." Suzaku explained. "But he began working towards military buildup while consolidating his power followed by speeches by unifying the galaxy."

"Not through peace I presume?"

"No he made various claims about the governments and nations outside of PACT being corrupt and greedy along with a long list of claims which most of it wasn't true, but his influence among his followers is disturbingly comparable to what you achieved as Zero."

"This Veniczar S. Arcadius even wears a mask I understand." The former Emperor inquired which Suzaku nodded his head in response.

"Lelouch the people of the Neutral Rim don't have a chance in hell in withstanding the PACT onslaught and aside from the military buildup I heard that Arcadius has launched a number of secret projects including the construction of a new flagship for himself which is supposed to be unlike anything seen in the last one hundred years."

"Suzaku there is something else that has you deeply disturbed about Arcadius isn't there?"

Suzaku paused in realization as he felt his own emotions were being transmitted through his expressions, but after a moment Suzaku adopted a solemn expression before he began.

"Not long after PACT secured its power base at New Eden a group of survivors, mostly members of the nobility and royal family, was found in a fallout shelter consisting of mostly women and children." Suzaku said, which his expression and tone was already a clear indication to where this story was heading. "They surrendered peacefully, but Arcadius ordered them executed having no use for them…its how he did it that is the most troubling."

"He wanted to set an example didn't he?"

"Yes and he used an orbital bombardment to wipeout the fallout shelter."

Lelouch was taken aback by this as he thought something like that was too extreme.

"The attack not only wiped out the shelter, but it got most of the surrounding area killing even more civilians. No one questioned it and Arcadius instead blamed it on the remnants of the Empire trying to take as many lives with them as possible."

"And I assume there were similar incidents?"

"Yes and those who questioned it found themselves marked as traitors or they disappeared." Suzaku said with a haunted expression on his face which even Lelouch found unsettling to look at.

"What of Nunnally's daughter?"

"As far as I could tell she was captured following the initial occupation, but despite my efforts I hadn't found any sign of her so I am not sure if she survived or not."

"I see…"

"So Lelouch I think I should give this back." Suzaku said opening up a small duffle bag that had been sitting next to his chair. He pulled out an all too familiar shiny black mask before handing it to Lelouch who made no effort to take it.

"What makes you think I'll take it up again?"

"Aside from the obvious fact this galaxy is going to need you when PACT inevitably begins its invasion of the Neutral Rim I see it as a chance of changing the world…no…the galaxy on scale no one has done in over a hundred years. Furthermore if someone doesn't do it then some poor kids like us will probably end up going through what we did." Suzaku said with a firm look of resolve on his face.

"There is no one left Suzaku?"

"It's because of that they are not around is all the more reason you should become Zero again."

"Huh," Lelouch said surprised by Suzaku's choice of words.

"Most of them died believing everything we did changed the world for the better. Sure not all of them agreed with it, but you cannot deny the results we achieved in the end. Kallen, Nunnally, Kaguya, Rivalz, Jeremiah, Sayoko, and even Milly believed you gave them a better world. I am not asking you to become Zero again to seek forgiveness for your past sins, but to take up the mantle to make a real change this time to show them their faith in you wasn't misplaced. If you don't then someone else less experienced and less understanding of the consequences of his or her actions will suffer what we endured."

"You're saying then I am the right choice because of my experience?" Lelouch asked in an almost self-mocking tone.

"Yes if you consider your accomplishments and the fact you have your Geass still."

"I suppose, but do I even deserve a second chance?"

"There is hardly any point in debating it. You are alive again after you were killed, so you have a second chance now. Put it to good use."

Lelouch gazed at the black mask as Suzaku set it on the table between them. The former emperor of Britannia was lost in thought as he began processing Suzaku's words and considered donning the mantle of Zero once more.

There was a part of him that almost made him reconsider doing so, but another part of him was of a different opinion.

Bringing one hand to his forehead in a vain effort to calm the conflicting torrent of emotions and memories running through his mind at that moment as Suzaku silently observed. He had known Lelouch wasn't just going to accept the mantle again after one conversation after all that had happened, but he at least planted the seed.

A coy smile appeared on his face as he thought, _'How ironic I hated the idea he had become Zero and everything he had done, but here I am trying to convince him to become that demon of justice once more.'_

* * *

A/N: yes that is right Milly is still alive, although I originally intended for her to be dead but a series of events led to her living well beyond her years if not solely to torment poor Lelouch for his previous actions. Then we have Suzaku who thanks in part to the Geass Lelouch had cursed him with is still alive…but barely who might still have some fight left in him. A few other CG characters who have survived, but two more will appear who have only made it by extreme means which I will reveal when they appear.


	3. Chapter 3 Moving On

A/N: this is next of the re-envisioned chapters continuing Lelouch's readjustment in his new life, but does he finally get the wakeup call he needs to reawaken the demon within once more.

Elements of this chapter has been inspired by Sunrider Academy, so expect a few familiar faces.

We'll find out in this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3

Moving On

Lelouch had difficulty sleeping the following night after his reunion with Suzaku, but even after a month had passed since their conversation the former Emperor was plagued from everything to nightmares, memories of his life before and guilt over some of his more terrible actions. He managed to mask it well while at school, which compared to his internal state was faring far better than he had expected. Even C.C. and Garibaldi were impressed by how well Lelouch had adapted to life on Cera and in school beginning to steadily achieve higher grades in class, which was thanks to C.C. and Garibaldi's own efforts in help Lelouch.

Fortunately it seemed the more he immerses himself in school work and activities it gave Lelouch a period of peace from the flood of unpleasant memories.

It was after school as Kayto and Lelouch were continuing the ongoing battle against paperwork, Kayto Shield's most hated enemy. Because of the obvious lack of members the stack of papers and reports on their holos were staggering to say the least, but Lelouch due to prior experience as an Emperor, leader of the Black Knights and 2nd Supreme Council Chairman of the United Federation of Nations made working through the piles of reports and budgets easy.

It still took a considerable amount of time nevertheless.

"Wow you must have been buried in work at your old school." Kayto praised as witnessed Lelouch seemingly work through his share of the work faster than him.

"I had a lot of experience, but that still doesn't mean I like it no more than the next person."

"I hear that!" Kayto said in agreement followed by a light chuckle.

It wasn't long after that when Ava showed up with a very sour expression.

"Unbelievable how could this happen?" Ava muttered before sitting at her desk bringing one hand to her face to massage her forehead.

"Is there something going on?" The former emperor inquired, but he wondered if Milly was trying to pull something to get at him.

"The administration is busy overseeing the pool cleaning so they wish for the student council to oversee the cleaning out of the clubs that were shut down." Ava explained as this brought back another series of unpleasant memories, but compared to the ones he had as Zero they were not as bad but not pleasant any less either.

He instantly began to suspect Milly's involvement.

"Was it those clubs you closed down for not being able to cover their dues and failing to file the proper paperwork on time?" Kayto asked which he got his answer with a nod from Ava.

"I don't recall any mention of this before, so I guess this happened before I joined."

"You're correct these clubs were terminated a day before you joined and for the past month the clubs have been clearing out. All that is left now is to clean and ready those rooms for new clubs."

' _This sounds way too damn familiar.'_ Lelouch thought as he felt a feeling of déjà vu come to mind.

During his time at Ashford Academy Lelouch and his friend Suzaku were conscripted to clean the old club rooms that once resided in one of the academy's older buildings. The oddity of the situation was that these clubs deemed weird for a variety of reasons, but Lelouch thought the last one in there was probably due to people disliking the idea behind it. It didn't sound like a big deal at first, but as Suzaku and Lelouch found out the clubs, aside from the last one, were anything but normal. It wasn't a matter of Suzaku and Lelouch cleaning them, but it was surviving them.

"What were these clubs called?" Lelouch asked having a really bad feeling about this.

"The clubs in question were the Lolicon Club, Paparazzi Club and Gungan Appreciation Club?" Ava answered, but their names alone convinced Lelouch of likely additional reasons those clubs had gone under.

"I assume you want both of us to handle this?" Kayto said hesitantly, although he would take cleaning up some old club rooms over paperwork.

"Of course!" Ava answered curtly rising to walk over to a broom closet and revealing some cleaning tools for the two.

A short time later in the hallways Kayto and Lelouch approached the first of the club rooms needed to be cleaned out wearing white aprons. Kayto carried a bucket with water and a mop while Lelouch had a broom with a bucket holding some towels and glass cleaner.

"You seemed kinda reluctant back there?" Kayto asked as they reached the first room, but before he got an answer Lelouch held him back.

"I was reluctant because the last time I had clean some dead club rooms we ran into some unexpected complications I didn't want to experience again?" Lelouch said with a serious expression that worried, but yet made Kayto curious about what could have happened to have left such an impression.

"So what were these complications?"

"Well the first club was called The Fall-Down-Seven-Times-and-Topple-Eight-Times Club." Lelouch said with a hint of mid-disgust as he couldn't believe he remembered that club's name.

"The...what...that makes no sense?" Kayto said with a look of confusion while trying to imagine what kind of club that must have been.

' _Oh lord I can't believe I remembered this as well too.'_ Lelouch in internal embarrassment as he despised that club for its stupid naming and policy, but it was only the tip of the iceberg.

"Apparently the club…" Lelouch began face palming as he remembered its police that Suzaku had read to him when assigned to clean the rooms. "Its policy says that 'We are a negative club that believes in falling down seven times and topple eight times. Our activities will have no victories. The policy of losers is our policy and we always look down while we walk."

"How the hell did such a club get approved? It sounds like a bunch of nut jobs were running it." Kayto said trying to determine if Lelouch was really being serious or making these stories up, but so far Kayto found no reason to doubt him considering how serious he seemed to be about it. Or he was just a really damn good liar.

"I know and my head hurts just remembering it, but when we opened the door to clean the room we found it completely empty."

"Oh so that's good right, so what happened?"

"I walked in and before I realized what happened my friend tackled me to the ground. He saw a hidden pressurized water gun that had been hidden out of view of the doorway that was motion sensitive." Lelouch explained to a stunned Kayto who looked at him with wide eyes.

"A hidden pressurized water gun almost hit you?" Kayto asked who was trying to look for any signs that Lelouch could be joking, but he saw nothing to indicate otherwise. "You're serious?"

"My reaction was quite different especially since it was quite destructive which could have seriously injured me or worse."

"After something like that I don't think I can blame you for being nervous."

"Heh that was just the start…the next club was the Landmine Club."

"They didn't have actual landmines in there did they?" Kayto looked at him with a look of concern as a mental image of Lelouch entering the club room before being blown up by a claymore mine.

Lelouch nodded his head, "we endured a total of thirteen of those clubs that left our cleaning equipment damaged by recognition, but the last club in the building, a Culture Club, was the only normal one where nothing happened."

"One of these days I am going to find where this school was and visit it." Kayto said as he was very curious to visit Lelouch's previous academy to see if the stories were true.

"I am hopeful things have calm down since I left, but…" Lelouch began to say as he slowly opened the door, although Lelouch thought he was overreacting he thought it couldn't hurt just to be better safe than sorry. He stuck the mop into the room and began waving it around as he began to say. "I am sure there isn't going to be such problems h…"

Lelouch was suddenly interrupted when a projectile shot out of seemingly nowhere hitting the mop out of his hand.

Kayto and Lelouch were shocked for a moment, but after it passed the two cautiously looked inside the club room to find that a trap had been set up with looked like a home-made canon mounted on a desk in one corner of the room just out of sight when you first walk in. Looking around again the two found the projectile it fired which was a potato. Dropping his knees to recover the mop he used it again upon getting back to his feet to find any kind of sensor or trigger.

Another potato fired confirming Lelouch's suspicions that the potato gun was somehow designed to fire more than one shot and there was a sensor in the room to fire if someone or something set off the sensor.

"Kayto did these clubs accept their disbandment well?" Lelouch asked calmly.

"Ava dealt with the situation herself, but from what I gathered not well at all I assume."

"Then we should probably assume the clubs have booby trapped their former rooms as an act of retaliation for their closure since I take it the student council is usually responsible for cleaning anything up left over in the rooms?" Lelouch asked which Kayto nodded in confirmation.

Through some very careful effort the two managed to sneak their way across the ground to reach the canon and disarm it ensuring it wouldn't shoot at them. The two cleaned the room afterwards and left the cannon alone as the two agreed that Ava should be informed of the nasty trap that had been left for them. When they proceeded to the second club Kayto and Lelouch cautiously checked for any signs of traps, but when they opened the door slightly Kayto spotted something above the doorframe after the two noticed a horrible smell when they opened the door slightly.

After using their tools to keep the small pan above the doorway from falling Kayto got it down where he and Lelouch found it was a pan full of fish that had since rotted making it painful for their noses to endure. After taking pictures of the trap with their holos the two disposed of the fish before proceeding to clean that room as well.

Everything went well until they reached the final club to clean.

"What has been taking you two so long?" Ava snapped as she approached the boys from behind.

"Ava did you know that the previous clubs you shut down have left behind traps for us?" Kayto said being straightforward.

"Traps don't make up stories Kayto!" Ava shot back clearly not buying what she believed to be an excuse. She snatched the mop from his hand and proceeded to enter the last club room with Kayto and Lelouch trying to warn her.

"He's serious Ava we found traps in!" Lelouch said, but Ava was too stubborn to heed their warnings which were due to the fact she didn't think anyone would set a trap for the student council.

Unfortunately Ava Crescentia under estimated the loathing she had earned from the clubs she had shut down, even though they deserved it, but still.

Upon walking in Ava got caught in an invisible wall of plastic wrap that was painstakingly coated with some kind of sticky substance and placed in a way that no one would see the invisible wall until it was too late after entering through the door. Then a hidden sensor was set off that opened up a concealed bag that had been placed on the ceiling which dumped a bundle of feathers atop Ava's head before finally a water balloon was fired from a concern of the room dosing Ava.

"Lelouch you better stay back…" Kayto nervously warned.

"Why? Obviously she is going to be angry about this."

"You haven't seen her angry in the ways I have. Mount Crescentia is about to erupt and absolutely kill everyone!" Kayto warned as if some kind of apocalyptic event was about to happen, but the look he saw on Ava's face when she stepped out of the class room was one of pure barely contained rage.

"Well that day could have ended better." Lelouch said as he and Kayto were walking together through Cera City.

"At least Ava wasn't seriously hurt, but those students will be lucky not to face criminal charges. I can't believe those idiots would hold such a grudge if you consider what their clubs were like." Kayto said as the two walked together.

"I didn't actually expect those rooms to be rigged with traps, but I suppose my prior experience was helpful." Lelouch thought as he began remembering Suzaku's conversation with him from one month ago.

"Yeah otherwise our afternoon would have really sucked."

"True, but I was almost beginning to think such madness that was in my old academy wouldn't be anywhere else."

"I guess it all depends on the people attending those schools."

"True enough…" Lelouch said before he and Kayto would be approached by a young girl a few years younger than they were.

She had white hair styled into a pair of small pigtails with blue eyes wearing a white and blue sailor-style school uniform with a brown coat and a pink scarf around her neck. Lelouch guessed she was from a middle-school division of some kind considering her size and age, but also he had a nagging suspicion that she and Kayto were related somehow.

"Oh Kayto who is this?" Maray Shields asked cutely, but Lelouch noticed a more mischievous smirk on her face.

"This is Lelouch the new member of the Student Council and a new friend I made last month that I told you about." Kayto said introducing Lelouch before turning to the young man in question. "Lelouch this is Maray my younger sister."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

Maray eyed Lelouch in a way that made the young man nervous.

' _Why do I suddenly get the feeling that this girl reminds me of Kaguya?'_

"Ooooh he is so pretty." Maray admitted which only cemented Lelouch's opinion that this girl reminded him of Kaguya while Kayto face palmed at his sister's response. "So Kayto are you two going out?"

"WHAT?!" Kayto and Lelouch both exclaimed.

Maray began laughing, which caused Kayto to become quite sore with his younger sister.

"It's nothing like that and you should know better Maray!"

"Well I had to ask because it didn't seem like you were having much success with Ava or any of the other girls." Maray replied with a mischievous smile. "Just remember you got until the end of the year."

"End of the year for what?" Lelouch asked knowing that it was probably against his better judgment to ask such a question.

"That Kayto needs to have a girlfriend or he will face a disappointed sister." The white haired girl proudly announced much to Kayto's chagrin.

"Damn it Maray!" Kayto huffed as his annoyance with his sister grew.

"So do you think you'll be available next year when I attend school with Kayto?" The young white haired girl asked with a seemingly innocent smile.

"Maybe when you are a couple more years older?" Lelouch muttered remembering a certain Japanese heiress, although he had no real intention of dating her but drawing from his experience with dealing with the love struck Kaguya Sumeragi and her subtle advances on him he knew she would continue to persist if he outright refused.

"A couple years, but wouldn't you have another girlfriend by then?" Maray said eyeing Lelouch suspiciously.

"I am not looking for one right now." The former Emperor said carefully suspecting that Maray would attempt to twist his words and turn the conversation against him.

In fact Lelouch was beginning to wonder if Maray was somehow related to Milly since he didn't find the possibility unlikely that she might have had children by this point. Why else would she choose to settle on a planet like Cera unless there was some kind of personal attachment here? Another concerning thought, but it was mixed with one of relief was that for all of the times that Nunnally had been around Milly she was thankful she had never corrupted Nunnally.

Nevertheless Maray adopted a devious smile as she did find something to use against him.

"Be careful I might hold you too it."

"Damn it Maray!" Kayto said trying to hold back a fair amount of anger and annoyance from spilling out. "I better take it from here Lelouch and I'll see you tomorrow…I'll handle this bundle of evil."

"Mou, you know that is not a nice thing to say about your sister." Maray with a pouty expression, but Lelouch eyed the young girl suspecting it was faked somehow.

"Right I'll see you tomorrow Kayto." Lelouch said before departing to leave Kayto to deal with his troublesome and perverted little sister.

' _I have never felt so thankful that Nunnally never became anything like that.'_

* * *

Lelouch continued home, but as he neared the apartment where he was staying at he noticed he was being followed. Someone wearing a white cloak was tailing him a safe distance behind him. At first Lelouch thought he was just being paranoid, but as they got closer to the apartment he began to believe otherwise. Contemplating his options Lelouch decided to test to see if he was being followed, so he entered an alleyway before taking off in a dash down the darkened alley in an effort to lose his follower.

After making some quick and sharp turns leading onto another street before dashing down another alleyway Lelouch stopped at a dead end where his tired out body left him breathing heavily. The enhancements his body had helped his physical conditioning, but he was still no star athlete.

"At least I…I…lost whoever was following me." Lelouch said thinking out loud while trying to catch his breath.

" **Oh it's not nice to run from someone only wanting to help you."** A mysterious voice said that sounded distorted and otherworldly, but at the same time there was an undeniable feminine tone to it.

Lelouch quickly turned his head and saw the person, who he was sure it was a woman judging by the voice, wearing the white cloak was standing at the end of the alleyway. She was too far away and the lack of lighting in the slightly darkened alley made it difficult to see inside her hood. But there was enough light to make out the rest of her as the rest of her body save for her pale and delicate hands were covered by her cloak.

"Who are you?"

" **I can't tell you right now, because that would be just a huge spoiler. You need to play the game if you want to find out my identity."** The mysterious voice said followed by a mischievous giggle.

"What game are you talking about?"

" **You know your favorite game of playing the revolutionary. Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it at times."** The voice inquired.

"And why would I even consider playing again. There is nothing at stake for me?"

" **Maybe there isn't, but there isn't anything to hold you back now. You got nothing to lose."**

Lelouch's eyes narrowed in frustration before he huffed in defiance before stating. "I was motivated for the sake of my sister, finding my mother's killer which I found out was a pointless venture in the end and then I chose to make the world a better place?"

" **It doesn't bother you that all you sacrificed for that better world ended up being enslaved and devastated?"**

That struck a nerve with Lelouch.

If Lelouch had better eyesight he would have seen the figure smiling from beneath the cowl of her hood. **"I guess I struck a nerve didn't I?"**

"You have no idea what I have been through?"

" **Are you sure, but I hope you aren't considering suicide or anything. Because I think you once told Tohdoh that would be cowardly didn't you?"** The mysterious woman said surprising Lelouch, but this made him begin wondering if the woman was C.C. Yet in the back of his mind he knew this woman wasn't, but he already understood that this woman probably wasn't even going to give him her name or any information related to herself.

"Why are you bothering with me in the first place?"

" **Because when motivated you are far more capable when you realize especially with the right resources at your disposal."** The hooded woman said before tossing a small object sealed inside a small container at Lelouch who managed to catch it. **"That will lead you to some resources you can repurpose for your own uses, but you'll need plenty of manpower, funds and a secret base to do this at."**

"What is it?"

" **Share it with your allies…you'll be very surprised I promise you."** The hooded woman said followed by a mischievous chuckle. **"We'll meet again in the future, but for now just know that PACT will not be the only enemy you shall face."**

"What do you mean by that? TELL ME!" Lelouch demanded in anger as what appeared to be a rip in fabric of the space-time continuum opened up blowing wind and debris around him before the woman vanished into the rip leaving no trace of her presence behind. The flow of time returned to normal and Lelouch might have written off the experience as some kind of dream.

But the small container holding whatever information he was left was proof that encounter had happened.

Lelouch's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts at that moment as one half of it was trying to make sense of what happened while the other was grappling with his reservations of becoming Zero once again. He had more than one reason why he passed the role over to Suzaku, because the identity of Zero and the burden that came with it left him with a lot of regret and pain. Donning the mask again would remind him of his losses such as those he never had any intention of harming and the pain of the truth of his mother and her so-called death.

Maybe it was fear of that pain that kept Zero from donning the mask once more, but deep down he felt it was more than that.

He wandered out of the alleyway completely lost in his thoughts. So lost that he bumped into someone he wasn't expecting to be in this part of town.

"Watch where you are going Lelouch!" Ava snapped at him, which was more than enough to shake the young man from his thoughts.

"Huh…Ava…I thought you would still be back at the school?" Lelouch asked as he quickly recovered his composure before taking a second to pocket the container he was given. He remembered that Ava was staying behind to finish up some paperwork she was required to finish and sent Kayto and him home once they had completed their tasks.

"I finished my work quicker than I had expected, but I need to make a quick stop off at the market to pick up some supplies for my apartment. The store down the street from here was having a sale I decided to take advantage of." Ava answered before folding her arms over chest.

"I see I just didn't expect to see you."

"But what were you doing?" Ava said eyeing Lelouch suspiciously.

Lelouch was annoyed, but he was careful not to show it. After all he shouldn't be surprised at Ava being suspicious at him since he had just come out of an alleyway and bumped into her so from her perspective the situation was suspicious in its own right.

But as Lelouch tried to come up with a convincing and plausible excuse Lelouch noticed something in the corner of his left eye. On one hand he might have considered it a god send that he could use it to change the subject of their discussion, but Lelouch had a feeling what he was seeing was not a good sign. Observing them for a second longer until he was certain Lelouch carefully addressed Ava.

"Ava have you noticed you are being followed?" Lelouch inquired which got the young woman's attention, but the former Emperor was quick to add. "Don't look at them directly, but you can see it right?"

Ava used her eyes while mindful not to make obvious movements with her head.

Just down the street near a corner was a group of five men. They were casually dressed for the most part in various clothing, so they didn't seem to be part of any kind of gang at first glance.

"Walk with me." Lelouch suggested while he brought out his phone in a seemingly obvious gesture to check his messages, but he was using the front-facing camera to get a look at the men which Ava observed as the two continued walking towards the market. After watching the group of men for awhile Lelouch and Ava concluded that the latter was being followed. "Any idea why they would be following you?"

"I don't recognize them from the academy."

"I see…as soon as we enter the market lets loose them and retreat to my apartment for the time being." The former Emperor suggested.

"An acceptable plan…" Ava said agreeing to the plan since it was a logical move and Lelouch's apartment was closer.

As soon as they entered the market the two quickly made their way through the rows of food and other products before making their way out through another entrance in an effort to lose them. The duo decided to cut through an alleyway to make it to Lelouch's apartment, but as they were passing by an old building set to be condemned they were cornered by the five men who had somehow anticipated their actions.

"Don't think we're just some two-bit crooks." The leader of the men said who wore a simple blue suit with a white dress shirt under it with the top three buttons undone. He had something of a beard beginning to grow around his mouth, but his brown hair had grown to shoulder length becoming unkempt.

"Somehow I think this isn't some attempt to mug two high school students or to attack the girl with me isn't it?" Lelouch said as he motioned for Ava to get behind him.

"You are half-right. You are just an unfortunate kid to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, but we are after her." The leader said pointing at Ava.

"I don't even know any of you." Ava snapped defiantly.

"No but your father does." The lead thug began before his face began to twist showing signs of repressed anger. "That tight-ass had me and some of my friends here dishonorably discharged from the military for snitching on us."

"Really so you are going after his daughter for some petty revenge then?" Lelouch said not trying to hide the disgust in his voice.

"Whatever you did I am certain it was something my father couldn't overlook, because unlike you he is an honest man at least." Ava countered defending her father.

"You bitch!" The lead thug said before he drew a combat knife from his jacket, but to make matters worse the other men accompanying him pulled out handguns.

"I dare not think what you are intending to do to her, but…I…am going to stop this." Lelouch said reluctantly knowing what he had to do. He didn't know what her father did to earn such animosity from them, but it was clear their actions in the military weren't condoned if it was enough to get them discharged. "Ava, whatever happens from this point on I want you to stay behind me!"

"But…"

"JUST DO IT!"

Lelouch turned his attention to the thugs who merely laughed at his attempt at bravado.

"Trying to protect the girl isn't going to save you."

"We both know you were probably going to silence me anyway?" Lelouch said as he brought his right hand up to his eyes before using them to unveil his Geass. "Because I am going to command that you and your friends forget this plan and forget you ever saw me to instead be become contributing members to society after you rethink your lives."

The power of his Geass took effect ensnaring the men under its power.

Ava watched in growing shock and awe as the men who had suddenly stopped advancing upon her and Lelouch had seemingly entered some kind of trance-like state just before dropping their weapons.

"Yes we'll do as you command."

At that instant like a group of zombies the men walked away still entranced under Lelouch's Geass until they fulfilled his orders to the letter. Ava was rendered speechless as her mind was trying to process what just happened. But her thoughts were interrupted when Lelouch turned around and Ava's eyes widened at the red light in Lelouch's eyes.

"I am sorry about interfering like this, but we both know there was only one way this would have ended."

"What…what did you do to them?"

For a moment Lelouch considered casting his Geass on her to erase her memory of what she had just seen, but he hesitated. A full minute passed before he brought his hand up to his eyes to suppress his Geass once more to avoid accidently using it on Ava.

"I simply ordered them to do something and they did it. They'll follow my orders to the letter…that is the curse…this power I was given when I made a deal with a witch." Lelouch answered.

"A witch?" Ava inquired which under normal circumstances she might have ridiculed the idea of witches, but after witnessing Lelouch wield a supernatural power that compelled the minds of the men who intended to do god-knows what to her to not only forget and abandon their plans, but to compel them to take their lives in new directions.

"Yes a witch…" C.C. said as she approached the two holding an umbrella, but her arrival also prompted Garibaldi to appear.

"Why are you out here?" Lelouch asked with a sour expression.

"You didn't arrive home on time, so we began looking for you. I was able to track your movements using the tracker I put in your bag as a precaution." Michael explained. "I guess you handled whatever trouble you were in."

"But we have a witness." C.C. said looking at Ava before turning to Lelouch. "Why didn't you use your Geass to erase her memories of this event?"

"I just couldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because…I…I just saw no point?"

"Is this because you refuse to become Zero again?"

"Why would I to begin with?"

"I see…" C.C. said before wondering if Lelouch had an ulterior motive. "Ava wasn't it…come with us. If you want answers I'll answer them but this isn't the place for a long conversation."

* * *

Lelouch, C.C., Ava and Garibaldi returned to the apartment complex Lelouch had been calling home before C.C. began to reveal the truth to Ava. During the course of revealing and answering her questions Garibaldi left to contact some friends in key places to ensure those men who had gone after Ava would not become a problem in the future.

He would also ensure that Ava's father would not be concerned about her whereabouts and take care of that as well. Lelouch was strangely silent throughout the entire exchange between C.C. and Ava, which he couldn't tell how long it had lasted it but he felt it was a good couple hours.

"So what Lelouch told us about his past was…a half-truth?"

"No it was technically true, but he just left out some details." C.C. corrected while waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Sitting there is a high school student, who in the span of one year conquered the entire world while building up from scratch one of the most formidable armies the world had ever known, which he then outmaneuvered and defeated even quickly when they betrayed him. His intellect and natural talent as a leader and strategist were key factors, but the power I gave him is what enabled him to accomplish those goals."

"I see…" Ava said with a hint of surprise and a bit of jealously at what Lelouch had accomplished when he lived on Earth. If anyone else had told him this she might have thought the one telling her the story was insane, but when she saw Lelouch's power in action she was willing to keep an open mind at least.

"We have been trying to help him adjust to his new surroundings while working to get him to take up the mantle of Zero once again."

"To what end?"

"To become the leader of a new incarnation of the Black Knights to stop Compact who has become PACT from invading the Neutral Rim as the beginning stepping stone to conquer the galaxy, which they will once they have built up their forces to sufficient size. We probably have less than ten years at best, but hopefully more than five if we are lucky."

"Are you…sure of this?"

"Yes we have someone deeply embedded within their highest ranks who have confirmed Arcadius's intentions."

"But why Zero couldn't the alliance and the neutral rim unify against the threat with the evidence you have?"

"Most of the neutral rim worlds, specifically the larger and more powerful of them, including Cera are convinced such a thing would never happen. The Alliance is similar, but there are those who believe otherwise but they cannot change the minds of their leaders so they are preparing an alternative."

"Zero…" Ava asked which C.C. nodded in confirmation.

"We have made some friends in certain places among some of the military and industrial sectors thanks to Mr. Garibaldi and my own contacts I have been building up since I left Earth. Of course I have a few other friends you have yet to meet who have been gathering some resources together to use as a good foundation to rebuild the Black Knights." The green haired woman said while Lelouch remained silent.

Ava deciding to address Lelouch rose from the chair she had been sitting in the entire time she had been talking to C.C. learning how Lelouch had become Zero, built up the Black Knights, led his war against Britannia and ultimately how he became Emperor leading up to his demise.

Much to the surprise of Lelouch and C.C. the brown-haired woman grabbed Lelouch by the scruff of his coat and lifted him up glaring at him before she shouted.

"You IDIOT!" Ava snapped before she continued in a lower tone, but the seriousness and anger didn't diminish as it was evident on her face. "You have an opportunity to do something that I could never accomplish and you are just wasting it. You can actually bring about a real change where an average person like me could never come close to accomplishing what you could do."

"You mean I conquered my own world before I was even nineteen?"

"Yet I wonder what if are really capable of what these people believe, so why are you against it?"

"Because I don't have a stake in this. I became Zero for revenge and for the sake of my sister, so why should it matter?"

Ava's eyes narrowed before something dawned on her as she asked. "Is this because you seek to be punished still?"

"What?"

"You had yourself assassinated not only because it was part of your plan, but you sought to punish yourself right?"

Lelouch was silent, but it was that silence that told Ava all he needed to know.

"If you seek punishment for yourself then live and become Zero again. If you fear that mask so much then let it be the prison you wear…your punishment for whatever sins you bare. You will wear it and become the man that is needed who will endeavor to the bitter end. Beyond all that's decent and then you can die." Ava said with words and a drive that surprised Lelouch, but yet those words had sounded familiar in a sense.

He had spoken similar words when he spoke to Kyoshiro Tohdoh when he sought to die to join his leader, but instead he had convinced him to join his side. The conversation came to mind as he remembered it.

* * *

"I pledged my loyalty to General Katase. Now that he's dead I wish to die too." Tohdoh spoke from his destroyed cell.

"Don't be a coward!" Lelouch declared as Zero.

"What?!"

"You must take responsibility, responsibility for the miracle that you made." Zero began to speak as he had Tohdoh's attention. "The Area 11 resistance movement is more intense than that of any other area because Japan surrendered before exhausting all of its military strength. You've failed to continue the great hope known as the miracle of Itsukushima."

"You're saying it's my fault?"

"Yes. People grasp at illusions because they're desperate for miracles. Why else has there been such rampant use of refrain? You must endeavor to the bitter end. Beyond all that's decent and then you can die. Until the name Tohdoh the Miracle has grown ragged and tattered."

* * *

Back in the present a small smile appeared on Lelouch's face as he realized that Ava was right and his own words from the past was also true because to cower now would betray himself. He knew suicide was a cowardly act and he would never do a repeat of the Zero Requiem. The idea of changing the galaxy through intrigued him, even though he had no stake in it. Then Ava's suggestion to embrace the role of Zero once more for the sake of both redemption and punishment for his past sins even though he knew he would likely never be forgiven, but maybe the effort would be worth something.

"Very well…this Geass I accept." Lelouch said as Ava released him bringing a smile to C.C's face.

"Now you are truly alive again Lelouch." The green haired immortal said before turning to Ava. "Since you have succeeded where I have failed to get Lelouch back to his old self I have a gift for you Ava."

Before Lelouch or Ava could ask the mark of Geass began to glow on C.C's forehead before Ava was seemingly transported into a white void, a void he had seen when C.C. spoke words that would change his life forever.

"My gift to you shall be the power of the king. I shall propose a deal between us, which in exchange for this power we may call on you in the future to aid us should the need arise." C.C. spoke from a location Ava could not perceive her while within whatever supernatural realm she had been dragged into. "Accept this contract, and you accept its conditions. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other: a different providence, a different time, a different life. The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude, or not if you are capable. Are you prepared for this Ava Crescentia?"

Ava contemplated her choice, but she knew her life would be changed forever beyond this moment.

* * *

A/N: anyone who has played Sunrider Liberation Day and maybe even Sunrider Academy should be able to easily figure out who was the mysterious being Lelouch encountered who claims to have had a hand in his survival ensuring he would live and be revived later in the future when he would be needed.

Against all odds and despite C.C. and Suzaku's efforts it would be Ava who finally wakes Lelouch and brings him back to his old self more or less to become Zero once more.

This was a very difficult chapter to write because I wanted it to be just right and so it took me a long time to get it right. But I hope this does the trick and it was done as best as I could get it so some feedback on it would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway chapter four I am contemplating to be a graduation chapter or when Lelouch formerly becomes Zero once more which would be a time skip.

Did Ava accept C.C's offer or did she refuse it? You'll just have to wait and see, so I'll leave it on something of a slight cliffhanger.


	4. Chapter 4 New Foundations

A/N: After talking about the recent chapters with Deathzealot about the flashbacks mixed in with current events of the chapter I decided to redo the story with all of the flashback scenes/events coming first as their own stand alone chapters. I probably won't spend too much time on them overall, but they will explain how Lelouch managed to rebuild the Black Knights and his first appearance as Zero before Cera's fall.

I have updated and redone chapters 2 and 3, so if you haven't read the new chapters yet I would go back and do so now before proceeding with this chapter because you'll be lost.

I decided to include a couple more Code Geass characters into this story picking ones who could have possibly survived after so many years. I won't say who and why exactly, but I felt they would work out for the story and could be another member of the Black Knights for Lelouch.

This chapters will conclude the high school arc which was quite short and next chapter will begin the "Return of Zero" Arc, which will be longer given some of the opposition he'll facing that will determine if his new incarnation of the Black Knights will sink or swim.

Also special thanks to Deathzealot and GreatWolf4 who both helped me with information on aspects of Sunrider I was not aware of helping me make it a little more accurate.

This chapter happens eight years before the fall of Cera and the true beginning of the story.

* * *

Chapter 4

New Foundations

Months have passed since that faithful night, but as far as people like Kayto Shields and others outside of Lelouch, C.C., Ava and those aligned with them were concerned nothing had changed. Yet for Lelouch his mind was already active and he felt refreshed in a sense, but at the same he felt nothing but concerned for Ava who accepted C.C's contact without hesitation despite knowing the problems and tragedies that could arise from the use of her new Geass.

Even more worrying was the fact that her Geass was exactly like his, although he made explaining how it worked a lot easier, but Lelouch was concerned she might fall into the same trap as he did especially when he began overusing it.

' _She is not the first person to gain a Geass like yours Lelouch if you remember your half-sister Marrybell.'_ C.C. had told him that night while he did recall that one of his sisters through his uncle V.V. had gained a Geass exactly like his. He was told then that sometimes it was possible for some people to gain the same Geass power held by others, although sometimes it was rare especially when one possessor of such a power existed still.

Thankfully it seemed that Ava was being far more reserved with the power than he was, because since she had received it Lelouch hasn't noticed any signs to suggest she has used it yet.

"So you are joining the navy." Lelouch said causally, but deep down he wasn't too surprised.

"Your reaction is different from Kayto's."

"Well it's hardly surprising somehow, although I admit it was either the military or politics I could see you taking a career in."

"Politics?" Ava inquired raising an eyebrow as she moved a white chess piece before Lelouch moved a black piece in respond continuing their chess game.

The two were sitting inside the Student Council room where it was a rare day where there was no paper work or reports that needed to be done, so while waiting for Kayto to show up for the meeting Ava and Lelouch began playing a game of chess.

"Based on my own experiences I think you would do exceptionally well in either the military or politics, but I wonder if you would be better suited for the political field?" Lelouch said thinking out loud.

"I see, but I will join the military as my father before me did."

"Ok then I won't ask about it any further."

This was the final day that Lelouch and Ava would graduate while despite starting late in the school year Lelouch had caught up and earned enough grades to pass ensuring he would graduate with top honors despite his late start and the fact he needed to be extensively educated on a large number of different subjects to ensure he would pass. Kayto on the other hand would only have one year left before he would graduate as well but he would be taking over Ava's position as Student Council President thanks to Lelouch helping him during the student council elections. It helped that Kayto didn't have much in terms of competition, which all but ensured a landslide victory for him.

It also seemed there were some who wanted holowear for their uniforms as well too and one of Kayto's goals as the new president would be to push for it, so that helped his campaign.

As if on cue Kayto entered the room breathing hard as it seemed that the white-haired youth had been running a marathon.

"You're late Kayto!" Ava's authoritative voice boomed.

"I am sorry I got held back for some last minute exams, but I got it done and I am free for the rest of the day." Kayto said rubbing the back of his head with a smile, which only served to annoy Ava further.

"I find that unlikely, but now that you are here we can take care of this council's final duties for the year."

"Uh you know they'll probably just stuff all this into a box and just toss it into a room in the basement with similar boxes to see the light of day." Kayto said trying to convince Ava that doing paperwork on what would be the final day of school was ultimately pointless.

"Rubbish we will complete our last day of duty as members of the Student Council and while I am still president the paperwork shall be done." Ava declared with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You are never going to win that battle Kayto." Lelouch said lazily knowing the outcome was already a foregone conclusion, although he didn't quite understand why Ava insisted on waiting on Kayto before they began working as it could've saved them time. "The only time you might win against Ava in such an argument is if you outrank her in a more official capacity."

"I highly doubt something like that will happen." Ava said confidently.

"I am not sure about that…times can always change." Kayto replied nervously, although he highly doubted such thing a thing would happen.

' _Yeah right Kayto like you would ever become Ava's superior at anything.'_ The white-haired young man thought while laughing at himself finding the very idea absurd.

Lelouch on the other hand was a little different.

' _Ava is the more diligent and efficient between the two, but her empathy issues and lack of,'_ Lelouch was thinking before his thoughts trialed off for a moment trying to find the right words, _'people skills we could say could see someone like Kayto evaluated to a command position over her due to his ability to work better with and inspire others.'_

Their efforts to finish up the last of the accumulated reports and stacks of papers lasted well into the night, but a complication arose when a blizzard hit effectively trapping them in the school. Lelouch had almost wanted to burn the piles of paperwork just to get rid of it at this point while he was sure Kayto was of a similar mind.

"Ava this is crazy…we are never going to finish all of this!" Kayto finally said dropping his upper torso onto the desk in front him with a look of exhaustion on his face.

"Unless we can have more people assist us we are never going to get this done unless we spend the entire night doing this, and we have the graduation ceremony tomorrow…which I should also remind you that you have a speech to give too." Lelouch added as he continued working, but his own hands were sore from handling so much paperwork.

"Yes I am keenly aware of that, but that doesn't change anything!" Ava answered stubbornly. "This work needs to get done."

Kayto and Lelouch exchanged looks as their situation seemed hopeless, but with a blizzard raging they had little choice. However there was a chance the blizzard could die down allowing the three a break for it to leave the school grounds and return home if they just waited for the right moment. Realizing something drastic had to done with Lelouch and Kayto not interested in spending their last night together as a Student Council doing paperwork all night while trapped in the school with a blizzard raging around them.

Eventually somebody had to snap.

"THAT'S IT!" Kayto shouted in defeat as he hurled the stack of paperwork he had been working on into the air much to the shock of Ava. "I hereby declare myself an enemy of paperwork for life. From this day on Kayto Shields shall never touch another shred of paperwork as long as I live."

"I second that for I Lelouch Lamperouge declare paperwork an enemy of humanity!" Lelouch said joining his friend as he hurled his own stack of paperwork into the air.

Ava looked at them as if both boys had lost their minds, but against all expectations Ava began laughing.

Kayto and Lelouch looked at Ava with eyes wide in surprise feeling they had just observed a law of nature being broken. Both of them had been expecting Ava to verbally chew them out for what they did, but enjoying a lighthearted laugh was something no one would have ever suspected. The two teenagers didn't dare to say anything until Ava spoke.

"You're right it's pointless…they'll just stuff all of this into that storage room in the basement. They don't even look at it, not even the budget reports for that matter." Ava said tossing her own stack of paperwork to the side much to Kayto's shock.

"I see so it's true then the club budget is decided by the school and not the Student Council then?" Lelouch said as he decided to voice something else had he noticed during his time.

"Yes that is right. No matter how well we balance it and prepare it they always ignore it for what the school has been using for years." Ava replied before asking. "When did you figure it out?"

"Within a few days."

"Wait…then all of those late evenings we spent trying to balance the budget was for nothing." Kayto said dismayed that was time wasted.

"Yes Kayto the Student Council has no real power and merely acts as something the students can direct their voices and complaints to without bothering the teachers. They do some planning and help coordinate events, but nothing else beyond that." Ava explained sagely.

"And you…knew about this?" An exasperated Kayto asked.

"I found out a few days after I became the new President yes."

"Then what chance do I have of petitioning for new holowear uniforms?" The white haired student asked in dismay.

"I would say probably none at all." Ava replied flatly. "You are welcomed to try and maybe you might get lucky since I have heard that all other schools around Cera City have updated their uniforms to holowear."

"I wonder how many previous members of the student council were even aware of that?" Lelouch asked deciding to act and help ease the frustration Kayto felt knowing that his actions as the next Student Council President will have little impact on the school.

"I suppose it's not hard to imagine that some were aware of it while others probably didn't care either way." The brown-haired teen replied with a dismissive hand gesture. "I had wanted my own term as Student Council President to be different through, but in the end I did nothing meaningful and no one was grateful towards my attempts for change at this school."

"Don't blame yourself..." Lelouch began with a bored expression on his face. "This is a school full of a teenagers who are blissfully arrogant for the most part of what troubles adult life will bring and they are trying to keep up the illusion their lives will be forever mind-numbingly ordinary just trying to squeeze as much time their teenage years will give them."

"That's pretty harsh Lelouch." Kayto said looking at him while cocking an eyebrow.

"I guess I wanted my own life at least to be…more interesting instead of the same old day-to-day routine most people go through like zombies." Lelouch said, but Ava knew his life prior to his death was certainly anything but normal.

"I see your point, but still…" Ava said as it was clear her lack of achieving any meaningful accomplishments during her term was hitting her pretty hard.

"Don't worry about it and when you are in the military you'll be in a better position to make a difference than you could at an ordinary high-school. You could very well end up saving the lives of people about to be killed or taken to become slaves by pirates or stop a band of criminals…you will have more opportunities if making a difference is something you want." Lelouch said trying to lift Ava's spirits, but her stone cold face and lack of expressions made it difficult to gauge her exact feelings.

Kayto on the other hand having known Ava for much longer knew this wasn't doing much to help her, but when he noticed the snow had stopped their chance to get out of the school before the blizzard hits again had come.

"Hey it stopped snowing outside, so if we're going to go then we better go now." Kayto suggested grabbing his bag.

The trio wasted no time leaving the school in the hopes of escaping the blizzard should the heavy snowfall reassume, although it was possible the blizzard was over and it has passed but no one was sure. The three were walking down the street together coming up to where the trio would part ways, but before that happened Lelouch who was in deep thought decided to say something.

"Let me tell you something a close friend and…another I knew talked about when we were children."

"We wondered what happiness would look like if we could give it a physical form." Lelouch thought looking down at his hand for a moment imagining holding a beautifully crafted piece of glass. "If I'm not mistaken, I think it was my best friend at the time that said that the shape of happiness might resemble glass."

"Glass isn't that fragile…" Kayto began, but after giving it some thought he reconsidered his answer. "Then again happiness can be fragile, so I guess that fits."

"Yes his reasoning made sense after you think about it. He said that even though you don't usually notice it, it's still definitely there. You merely have to change your point of view slightly, and then that glass will sparkle when it reflects the light. I doubt that anything else could argue its own existence more eloquently."

"Not bad, but why tell us?"

"Even if our time together seems to be short or your time as children to teenagers seemed short before leaving childhood behind forever...I imagine you had plenty of moments. Even if you feel like nothing significant happened surely there had to have been good moments and you just need to change your point of view to see those moments for something better." Lelouch said while Kayto realized it was more for Ava, but even Kayto had to admit for the times Ava has been cold, unyielding and extremely strict there were some good moments at times.

The incident with the anti-gravity generator was funny, although he knew Ava had a different opinion, but he saw Lelouch's point and he agreed with it.

Ava on the other hand remained silent and was in deep thought but she cast a glance at Kayto causing her normally expressionless face to soften.

"Anyway I'll see you two tomorrow for the graduation ceremony." Lelouch said bidding Kayto and Ava good night.

"See you around Lelouch." Kayto said waving farewell to his friend.

' _I hope we'll all meet again in the future sometime after we graduate.'_ Kayto thought as he watched Lelouch depart before he followed Ava back to the apartment complex they lived in.

* * *

One week later a transport vessel was traveling through space using warp. Using information provided to the mysterious being who had visited Lelouch months ago C.C. had some friends and former Compact members Suzaku had helped smuggled out of PACT space who had become disillusioned with how much their leader and founder had changed. They had gone to the coordinates Lelouch was given in the data he was given and had found something.

Now that Lelouch has graduated and gotten use to his new surroundings C.C. with Michael were heading to rendezvous with the others at Nomodorn Corridor.

The Nomodorn Corridor was a large and uncharted sector in the galaxy with only one known habitable planet, but otherwise no nation or organization other than criminals and pirates frequent the area. Even then pirate activity was fairly low except when they are trying to evade the law by hiding somewhere in the uncharted sector.

The place in particular they were going to was called the Mnemosyne Abyss.

According to what C.C. had told him Lelouch was led to understand that the Mnemosyne Abyss which is rumored by the inhabitants of the single planet in the sector to have been the site of an ancient battle thousands of years ago. There were many ghost stories about the site and of course tales of those who had attempted to explore it had never returned.

"How much longer until we arrive?" Lelouch asked as he sat in a chair on the small bridge of the transport vessel.

"Shouldn't be long now, but I think you are going to like what we found." Garibaldi said a smile.

"Something I should know already?" The former emperor demanded impatiently.

"I think it's better if you see it for yourself." C.C. replied before the ship dropped out of wrap having reached its destination.

It took Lelouch less than a moment to take in the scene before him, but his eyes went wide in awe at the sight before him while his mind was going into overdrive. Outside the windows of the bridge Lelouch beheld a graveyard of ships. All around them the space was filled with ships of a dagger-shaped design, but they were unlike any of the ships he had studied since his revival so they were not Solar Alliance or even Cera ships.

"These ships according to Lloyd are possibly Ryuvian Battle Cruisers taking into account their fairly light armament and size." C.C. explained as Lelouch wondered about the name she mentioned.

"Lloyd as in Lloyd Asplund?" Lelouch asked as he was shocked yet again without time to recover from seeing the ancient starship graveyard around them.

"Yes, but unlike Milly and her accident Lloyd converted his body over time from human to cyborg and cyborg into android to live well beyond his years to continue his pursuit for science." The green haired witch said with an off-hand dismissive gesture.

"Why I do I get the feeling he probably got kicked out of four scientific institutions along the way?"

"Six actually…" C.C. corrected in a matter of fact tone. "I am sure you can guess what factors saw him booted out. The one place he lasted the longest was at Diode before the disaster that destroyed it, but I guess even the one place in the galaxy where the Alliance and New Empire at the time had sent scientists deemed too dangerous found him too much to handle."

It might have worried someone else, but Lelouch didn't seem too bothered by it.

"So I take it he is very familiar with these ships." Lelouch said deciding to change the subject and return to the matter at hand of what was before them.

"Yes although Lloyd isn't sure of what type of vessel they are he is certain they are Ryuvian Battle Cruisers and dating analysis puts them at least around two thousand years old." C.C. began to explain, but this prompted Lelouch to ask.

"Why hasn't anyone else found this place…I mean it's not exactly hard to miss." Lelouch said gesturing to all of the floating derelict ships around them.

"Of course, but between the ghost stories about this place and the information you were given I think we know why this place has remained untouched for so long." The green-haired woman answered before Lelouch deduced what she probably meant going off of the information on hand.

"Those ships are capable of functioning aren't they?"

"That is right, because as it turns out that gigantic ship in the center of this graveyard." C.C. said pointing at the largest ship in the graveyard which was at least over three kilometers in length easily dwarfing most of the ships around it. "Like the other ships it's still functional, but it's in a short of sleep mode right now."

"But if someone disturbs it or does something to alert it to the presence of possible enemy vessels a defensive measure is triggered."

"Correct, this is why Lloyd has been conducting a very delicate and careful salvage operation. The information advises we leave the dreadnought alone and focus on the smaller ships to avoid triggering the remote reaction of those ships. As part of another precaution we remove the power cores and computer cores in reach ship as an additional safety measure."

"I see, so what are we doing with them?"

"We are using a specialized salvage freighter used to tow and move large cargo including ships up to a certain size to a safer location." The green-haired immortal explained as she gestured out the windows of the bridge to a ship they were approaching. It wasn't a Ryuvian ship, but rather it looked like a very large freighter of some kind designed to carry large amounts of cargo or tow a large ship. "It was difficult, but Lloyd and Michael had some connections to get us that ship to move the cruisers to another location where if they can be restored and repurposed for our uses we begin repairing those ships using parts we salvage from the other ships deemed too extensively damaged to be of any use other than spare parts."

"Is that it?"

"No we do find some interesting trinkets and Ryder parts, so anything we can't really use Lloyd has been selling them to some black market dealers and others for some funds to help finance our salvage operations."

"I see…"

A short time later the transport ship docked with the much larger Atlas-class transport and salvage freighter named the Kobayashi Maru. It was primarily blue and gray, but it was clear from the wear on the hull and paint that it had seen better days. Walking aboard the ship Lelouch in the company of C.C and Michael were greeted by another familiar face Lelouch recognized almost instantly despite some white streaks along the sides of his blue hair.

He wore a black trench coat over a white dress shirt and black pants and matching boots. He still had the gold metallic eyepiece around his left eye, but other than the white streaks he looked almost the same along with his tan complexion.

"Your majesty it is good to see you returned to the world of the living again." Jeremiah Gottwald said before bowing crispy to his Emperor, despite no longer actually being an Emperor.

"It's good to see another familiar face, although I am surprised you are still alive after so many years as well as being loyal to me even though I died." Lelouch said respectfully.

"Thank you…and hearing those words made the years I have waited for your return all the more worth it."

"Of course, but now that I am here please bring me up to speed." Lelouch requested before Jeremiah gestured for him to follow.

"Lloyd is busy overseeing the removal of another computer core from one of the almost intact vessels we have recovered so far bringing the total up to four ships."

"How many have been completely dismantled so far?"

"Three of them, but most of the ships furthest away from the dreadnought at the center are the most intact and well-preserved of the vessels while further in the damage to some of them is quite extensive."

"So whatever devastated these ships came from that dreadnought at the heart of this graveyard?" Lelouch asked prompting Jeremiah to nod his head in confirmation.

"The Holy Ryuvian Empire at its peak was the most powerful galactic superpower in history with technology and weapons capable of unbelievable feats. It was said they even had weapons capable of potentially wiping out all life in the galaxy." Jeremiah explained to Lelouch who listened carefully to his explanations. "Fortunately when it collapsed due to internal strife and civil war among successors for the throne of the Empire the galaxy was merely sent back to the dark ages having to rebuild itself from scratch than be completely destroyed."

"I see…" Lelouch said before looking out at the graveyard through one of the viewport windows on the hull. The former Emperor tried to picture what the battle must have been like in the past, which given the amount of the ships floating adrift and the damage seemingly caused by the dreadnought gave Lelouch some ideas to how destructive the battle here must have been like roughly two thousand years ago.

Yet in the back of his mind he wondered why Earth wasn't part of the Holy Ryuvian Empire before it collapsed considering it existed for thousands of years before its fall.

"Well hello there…back from the dead are we?" A very familiar and almost playfully mocking voice greeted.

Lelouch and the group came across a tall man with lavender hair and grayish-blue eyes with large glasses worn over them. Lloyd was wearing his trademark lab coat over his shirt and he wore the same black pants and shoes as before too. Like before when Lelouch had gotten to know him better as Emperor of Britannia the infamous Earl of Pudding was wearing a smile even through it was fake.

"Well Lloyd I must say I am surprised to see you as well too."

"It helps I converted almost every part of me into a machine with an android body carrying my brain." Lloyd lazily explained before pointing to his head where the only part of him still organic was kept. "I made a lot of improvements and upgrades over time and now I can do a lot more."

"I know why Jeremiah has joined me again, but why are you here?"

"That is because working for you is a lot more interesting than anyone else I have worked for and I'll have some excuses to branch out and do some new projects. Of course I really must thank you for this information on finding this graveyard of ships which is probably the biggest collection of Lost Technology in the galaxy." Lloyd answered as he looked out at the graveyard, but unlike Lelouch his eyes sparked like he was a kid who has just been given the ok to clear out a candy store.

' _Somehow I seriously doubt we can restore every single ship, but if these ships are as capable as I am being told even a handful of them would give me an edge over most pirate fleets and even some military vessels too.'_ Lelouch thought as his mind was already going over the possibilities.

"Any your majesty…" Jeremiah began, but Lelouch interrupted him.

"Jeremiah you are aware I am no longer an Emperor so you don't have to call me that."

"I know, but it is out of respect and loyalty I refer to you as such."

"I suppose that is fine," Lelouch said knowing he might win this argument so he settled for a compromise. "Be mindful that you do not do it in public away from people aware of my true identity." The black-haired former Emperor warned.

"I shall do so if you command it." Jeremiah said with a quick bow.

"Alright…"

"I think it's time Lelouch should meet everyone else." C.C. said deciding to move things along.

"Right I'll gather everyone for the meeting." Jeremiah said using a hidden communicator in the collar of his trench coat.

Lelouch felt slightly nervous at meeting the people who were gathered together by Suzaku with help from C.C. and others to become founding members of a new Order of the Black Knights. He didn't doubt his own abilities, but he was mindful of the fact that he was working with strangers and not people knew. They might share some common interest, but that was all at best through.

' _It might be difficult to win their trust, but I must do it if I want the Black Knights to rise again.'_

Still Lelouch knew he had a long way to go before he could rebuild the Black Knights, but from what he saw C.C. and the others gather together for him so far it was a nice change of pace to have better materials to build a strong foundation upon. From the foundation made up of the derelict ships floating around in the graveyard Lelouch would have a strong foundation to work with.

' _I just need to win them over now.'_

* * *

A/N: Well this is it…with Lelouch having now adapted just enough to his new surroundings he needs to get to work rebuilding the Black Knights.

On the plus side no one can call him a high school dropout now.

Anyway there will be a time skip of about three to four years into the future where Lelouch makes his first reappearance to the Neutral Zone at large as Zero and the Order of the Black Knights he has rebuilt with help.

Kayto and Ava will be back later in the story when Cera falls to PACT, but the next chapters will go into Lelouch's rise as Zero once more and the exploits of the Black Knights to set the scene. Then I won't have to do too many flashback scenes. Although Lelouch will not be able to use everything from that graveyard, but the parts and ships he could salvage along with anything else he could sell will help him towards rebuilding his organization obtaining materials and funds.

It won't be a huge army at this point, but I would say he has enough for a good start to work with.

Now on my profile page is a new and updated pairing poll for Lelouch, the next one will feature Kayto which is for me to gauge to see what kind of pairings you guys would be interested in seeing. Final decision falls to me and how the story goes, but I am giving you guys a chance to offer suggestions for a pairing. I have given you guys a chance to pick up to five so I can have some "reserve choices" to consider.

It won't be a harem, but I do have a lot of good ideas for most of them so deciding who is compatible is an issue, but rather picking the best and most interesting choice. But to know some of the characters I strongly advise playing Liberation Day and its DLC [RE]Turn before casting your vote to know the other characters involved.

Keep in mind Maray while young when introduced will be in her early twenties by the time the story starts with Lelouch mid-twenties or so at that point, so no I am not doing that route. Of course that is if I consider pairing them.

Also I added Milly into the mix just to complicate things for Lelouch on a personal level especially when she becomes friends with a certain pink-haired nurse much later in the story just to cause Lelouch grief. How she survived after so many years without becoming an android or a cyborg will be explained much later as well.

Anyway I hope you guys like all of the changes and we'll be getting back to the "present" in due time in a few more chapters to tie up any loose ends.

I'll be looking forward to your reviews and feedback because they are very much appreciated and good for motivation.


	5. Chapter 5 The Black Knights Rise

A/N: Thank you guys for the reviews and feedback on the chapter, although I was hoping for more but judging from what I am seeing in regards to the changes I have made so far I am going to guess that it is acceptable and good so I am going to roll with it.

The poll is still proceeding well with twelve votes at the time of this posting and I am surprised with some of the choices so far, although I won't say who is winning but I am kinda surprised so far. Poor Chigara is not getting a lot of votes.

Anyway this is the first chapter of the Rise of the Black Knight's arc, so without further delay enjoy.

I apologize in advance for the heavy use of text in this chapter when it comes to me describing something or explaining the history of certain events and planets to help those reading this story who might not be familiar with the lore of Sunrider to better follow events and etc of the story.

* * *

Chapter 5

The Black Knights Rise

(Four years later)

Inside the private sanctuary of his cabin Lelouch sat behind his desk while using a special FTL transmitter to speak with someone currently in another part of the galaxy. The projector in his desk was modified so he could change his appearance at will so no one could see what he was currently wearing. Right now to the person he was speaking to he appeared to be wearing casual clothing consisting of a black jacket, a white dress shirt and black pants.

"I take it there have been no problems with your eye Ava?" Lelouch asked speaking to an older Ava who had allowed her hair to grow longer as it reached down to her waistline, but as expected of her she kept it cleanly cut as a hime-hairstyle.

She wore a black and gold trim uniform of the Cera space forces now as well too which seemed to suit her quite well considering her personality.

"No, but I guess it helps that I have rarely made us of it." Ava Crescentia replied as the flash of red light from her left eye was where her Geass was located, currently dormant.

"I am sure there will be instances where it could be helpful." The former emperor replied, although he knew Ava was the type of person who wouldn't abuse its power to get ahead in the military, implying that Ava could find some other creative uses for it like he did. One way would be interrogating an enemy or self-defense as Lelouch had demonstrated on that one night around four years ago.

"I don't doubt that, but I should go it's time for me to return to my duties."

"It's been nice talking to you Ava…please give Kayto my regards if you speak to him." Lelouch said causing Ava to flinch for a moment but she offered a farewell as if nothing was wrong.

"Yes I'll speak with you again if time allows for it."

Lelouch ended the FTL transmission as Ava's holographic avatar disappeared from view leaving Lelouch alone in his cabin that doubled as his office.

Reclining in his chair for a moment Lelouch took a look around his office, although it was large enough for a desk and bookshelf with a holographic screen showing diagnostic information of the ship and its location that was projected from his desk. A smaller room was connected where Lelouch had his bedroom along with his bathroom containing a shower and other necessities.

A red light on the holographic screen displayed over his desk alerted Lelouch that they were closing in on their destination and would be exiting wrap shortly.

' _Time to go to work…'_

Lelouch rose from his desk before picking up a familiar iconic mask resting on its stand by the door. Sliding the mask over his head he listened to the plates on the back slide into place before a click could be heard confirming the mask was now in place. The automatic door opened as Lelouch now dressed in the iconic attire of the masked revolutionary Zero began walking down the hallway heading for the bridge of the ship.

Unlike the transport ship they had used when he met up with Jeremiah and Lloyd years ago the ship he was traveling on was brand new in the sense that it had been constructed using what was salvageable from the Ryuvian Ships they found at the Mnemosyne Abyss. Even though they restored some of the more intact ships from the graveyard it was decided that the Black Knights until the inevitable war in the future ahead of them comes that they should use vessels of their own design. Lloyd had already drawn up some drafts before traveling to the Mnemosyne Abyss, but once they had recovered as many ships and parts they could move to a hidden base they established using an old Solar Alliance base that was abandoned almost a hundred years ago after their war against the New Empire.

Either by luck or design the base had remained untouched, but Lelouch had no intention of making a permanent base out of it. He would make use of it until a more remote and secure location could be found to serve as a more permanent base, but Lelouch also hoped it would have resources he could obtain to become more independent to avoid over reliance on those who were supporting him and the Black Knights.

' _Leaders can change and so can their agendas…they could turn on us once we stop being useful.'_

That was part of Lelouch's reasoning on the matter as he knew the Solar Alliance was discreetly supporting them. Even so Lelouch was concerned upon seeing similarities between the Alliance and the Europia United, which has a similar governing system only on a larger scale with a single president at the top. Much like the problems that hindered the Europia United war effort against Britannia the former Emperor knew the Solar Alliance was seeing populism spreading throughout Solar Congress causing bureaucratic inactivity and continuous political deadlock.

Other than the fact that their military hasn't been developed much since its war with the New Empire another clear factor that the Solar Alliance was in troubling state was the fact that elements of its military was supporting him.

' _The sooner we can be independent of the alliance and able to sustain ourselves the better.'_ Lelouch thought as he finally reached the bridge of the prototype and first ship of the Order of the Black Knights dubbed the BKA-01XA Excalibur.

The ship was the first of a new kind of assault cruiser being designed for guerilla warfare. It was smaller than a carrier and a battleship, but its weapons being modeled after those of the ancient Ryuvian Cruisers and its kinetic weapons built upon the Variable Ammunition Repulsion Impact Spitfire (VARIS) rifle concept used by Lloyd's greatest creation the Z-01 Lancelot gave it plenty of firepower along with being armed with lasers, pulse guns, missiles, and flak cannons for defenses against missiles and other projectiles.

Aside from being well protected with armored hull plates it has a shield system installed to weather and weaken incoming energy based attacks, but Lloyd also included Blaze Luminous shielding to protect the entire ship from a devastating attack at the price of being unable to fight back while the Blaze Luminous shields were up.

The most noteworthy aspect of the ship was its Ryder carry and development system, although the ship is limited to four Ryders which is just a quarter of what most carriers can carry the design of the ship allows either Ryders to be launched from the front of the ship like a normal carrier when the armored bow of the ship unfolds to allow Ryders to launch or it they could be dropped from behind the ship during an attack as the Excalibur would attack enemies while deploying its Ryders in its wake to either resume the attack while the ship would prepare to make another pass or could attack any enemies behind it.

Upon entering the bridge he found Jeremiah present with the bridge crew.

"Commander on the deck!" Jeremiah said as the bridge personnel got up and saluted their superior. Aside from Jeremiah who wore the same black coat and dress shirt underneath the other members of the bridge crew wore modernized black and gray trimmed Black Knight uniforms.

"At ease everyone…Jeremiah has there been any changes?" Lelouch asked as the mask he wore digitally altered his voice to conceal his identity when speaking with those outside of the Black Knight's highest ranks.

"None yet your majesty, the intelligence we got from the Mining Union have proven accurate so far."

"I see, but continue monitoring FTL channels for any suspicious transmissions." Lelouch said as he took his seat in the commander's chair giving him a view overlooking the circular-shaped bridge.

Unlike previous ship designs back on earth the bridge of the Excalibur was nested deep within the ship itself where it could be well protected from direct attacks. The screens showing space and everything else around them were due to holographic screens receiving data and information from miniature cameras scattered about the hull of the ship.

Even the windows seen in the cabins including Lelouch's own cabins were holographic projections of what was outside the ship. The only place with any physical windows into space was on the CIC observation desk to be used in the event the cameras around the hull were disabled to assist with navigation.

Exiting wrap the Excalibur was entering the Astral Expanse, a remote area of space where it has become a hot spot of criminal activity ranging from pirates, slave traders and smugglers. None of the planets and small nations existing in the Neutral Rim lacked the means to enforce any kind of law enforcement in the area due to a combination of the vast uncharted area of space making it almost impossible among other complications.

"Prepare to launch our Ryders and change to condition yellow." Lelouch ordered as he entered some commands on his chair to bring up a small holographic display which including radar and sensor screens so Lelouch could remain aware of progress.

"Changing to condition yellow and our pilots are standing by in their machines." A bridge personnel member announced.

"Change over to silent run mode and proceed to the coordinates." Jeremiah ordered as the bridge crew began working as the large ship began to slow down before moving towards a debris field consisting of asteroids and various space junk that Jeremiah and Lelouch were hoping would help disguise their approach.

Moving through the debris field the air on the bridge became tense with nervous anticipation.

The task before the Black Knights was that they were hunting down a group of notorious slave traders abducting people from transport ships namely from planets such as Versta, which is embodied in a long on-going series of civil wars and violent unrest due to its inability to adapt to suddenly becoming an independent planet following the conclusion of the Alliance-Imperial War a hundred years ago where it was no longer a planet under the Ryuvian Empire, which was the remains of the once powerful Holy Ryuvian Empire now reduced to a single planet following the empire's collapse that sent all of humanity back into the dark ages.

What remained of the one galaxy-spanning empire saw a brief resurgence during the Alliance-Imperial War when Ryuvia allied with the Solar Alliance fighting against the New Empire leading a series of successful counterattacks against the New Empire reclaiming some lost territory, but it was stabbed in the back when Ryuvia refused to return the planet of Far Port, which was a strategically important planet in the world being the gateway world into the core worlds of the Solar Alliance. The loss of Far Port marked the final decay of Ryuvia and crippled any chance of the planet regaining its lost glory.

The final nail in the coffin however was the Treaty of Vespa, which ended the war between the Solar Alliance and the New Empire, but at the cost of making a buffer zone of neutral territories between the two superpowers called the Neutral Rim granting independence to a large number of worlds including Cera. The Emperor of Ryuvia was since forced to focus on stabilizing the planet in the wake of ongoing political and royal intrigue that threatened to destroy what remained of Ryuvia even there wasn't much left to fight for.

It was with this information in mind that Lelouch decided not to fully trust the Solar Alliance, although he did suspect that the Alliance probably feared that Ryuvia was allowed to begin regaining territory it was probably only a matter of time before they would take the place of the New Empire and try to re-conquer the galaxy if given a chance.

"We should be nearing the location where the ships carrying the people they abducted from Versta should be found at, but finding their base without the proper coordinates will be problematic." Jeremiah noted as he checked the navigation console from the Executive Officer's command station near Lelouch's command chair.

"Then if we managed to beat them here then we should be able to intercept the slave traders returning from Versta." Lelouch said as this was a risky gamble they were taking.

Aside from abducting people from places with civil unrest like Versta, from areas where no one would care what happened or you were taken captive while transporting materials for the Mining Union. Lelouch had been hunting these slave traders for the last month, but trying to track them down in a remote and uncharted region of space like the Astral Expanse was almost impossible even if he had an entire fleet at his beck and call.

The request for help from the Mining Union and the information they got was the break Lelouch needed.

' _I just need to hope this pays off.'_

The ship lurked in the debris field waiting for its quarry to arrive, which shouldn't be hard since no in their right mind would take civilian vessel into the Astral Expanse unless they were conducting shady activities.

They waited for an hour before an alert went off signaling that the sensors were picking up a ship coming out of wrap. Jeremiah and the bridge crew sprung into action as they quickly began using the sensors to indentify the ships entering the area.

"We got eight contacts sir…" A young bridge operator announced with brown hair and a tanned complexion. "We have confirmed two Pirate Ironhogs, three Pirate Destroyers, two Ryder Carriers and one transport."

"Can we identify them?" Zero asked.

"Checking pirate markings with library now…" The bridge personnel answered as he ran an image of the pirate's markings. "We got a match they are the Orion Pirates."

"We got them finally." Lelouch said as his right hand formed into a fist before ordering. "Prepare to attack and deploy our Ryders as we close in."

"Aye sir!" The helmsman of the ship replied as the ship began slowly moving out of the debris field while trying to use the cover it provided to mask their approach from the pirates. The ship was still operating on silent mode as the dense field of debris and asteroids worked to their advantage, but as they approached about to exit the debris field.

"Once we clear the debris field I want us to move at attack speed towards those pirates." Lelouch said as he began laying out his plan of attack. "Target the Ironhogs with our forward Lightnings then shoot down those Ryder Transports with our Spartan cannons with impact rails set to level nine once we're in range."

"Shall I order our Ryders to deal with the destroyers?" Jeremiah offered respectfully.

"Yes, but also order them to pick off any remaining enemy Ryders they might launch during our initial attack."Lelouch said taking into account the possibility those make-shift Ryder carriers might be able to launch their Ryders before the ship could get close enough to destroy them. "Disable the transport once we're in firing range by taking out the engines."

As they approached Lelouch observed the pirate ships closely, although to someone new to space combat they looked like a formidable combat group yet that was only because pirates intend to equip their ships and Ryders with whatever weapons they could load onto it.

Their so-called destroyers were a perfect example, which were basically a refit of other older ships put together consisting of a frame, a reactor and fitted with the maximum amount of guns and cannons as possible. They were generally green and black in color, but looking at the ships it was a marvel they were able to run as well as they did all things considered.

The Pirate Ironhog however was something of a different story as it was the size of destroyer, but despite its bulky almost blimp-like hull and weapons piled on it was surprisingly fast. Mounted around the ship itself was powerful rockets and missiles designed for taking out larger ships and space stations. They also had a surprisingly amount of flak guns capable of easily dealing with missile fired at them, but for all of their firepower and anti-missile defenses they had one serious weakness.

They didn't have shields to protect them from energy based weaponry like the fire-linked Lightning-Type Laser Banks of the Excalibur.

"FIRE!" Lelouch commanded as the ship cleared the debris field which instantly alerted the pirates to their presence while at the same time the Excalibur fired up its engines accelerating to attack speed.

The Excalibur began its attack by firing its laser banks which had much longer range than most of its weaponry as one of the Pirate Ironhogs was hit by the first shot causing it to erupt into an explosive ball of fire as its reactor and its stored rockets and missiles detonated.

"Closing in on target…" The helmsman said as the ship's twin Spartan K55 Dual Barrel Variable Ammunition Repulsion Impact Cannon took aim.

"We're range…lining up the target." The Gunnery Officer replied as another burst of lasers from the Excalibur sunk the second Pirate Ironhog before it could come about to launch a counterattack.

The cannons fired green-beam like high-speed kinetic-based projectiles at the destroyers, due to their high settings and the fact that their destructive capabilities were enhanced because of the technology used for the Lancelot's VARIS rifle was a key component. When the shots hit the pirate destroyer it briefly looked like a soda can that had been hit by a pair of very powerful bullets almost rendering the ship into two. The first destroyer went up in a ball of fire as the reactor onboard which quickly critical due to the extreme level of damage one shot had done before a second shot sunk another Pirate Destroyer.

The pirates tried to fight back of course despite being outgunned, but as they fired missiles and some of their destroyers managed to come about to fire their own kinetic weapons at the advancing Excalibur.

"Activate the main shield and continue to maintain present speed and course." Lelouch commanded while he was smiling under his mask as the front of the ship became covered in a light green field of energy, Blaze Luminous Shielding, which deflected the kinetic weapons and missiles of the pirates. The only trade off was that the Excalibur couldn't fire its weapons without lowering its shield.

But as the pirates were trying to stop the chagrining Excalibur the only part of the ship unshielded was its rear where a launching hatch was opening up.

Launching them in the wake of his ship's passing three black Ryders were deployed from the rear of the ship. Thanks to the Pirates being focused upon the Excalibur it gave the three newly deployed Ryders a chance to attack their occupied targets before their presence on the battlefield could be noticed.

Two of the Ryders were designed and based off of existing models, but like the Excalibur they were designed by Lloyd while being assembled at their hidden base using Ryder parts salvaged from Ryuvian wrecks at the Mnemosyne Abyss and parts assembled at other locations by various manufacturing companies. Due to Lloyd's involvement in their design they bore a certain resemblance to his prized creation the Lancelot, but their design was that their parts could be interchanged easily and become a good base for future mass production once the Black Knights can obtain the resources and means for that.

Named the BKR-01M Knight it drew inspirations from the Vincent Ward of the Holy Britannia Empire to be Ryder exclusive to the Black Knights designed for engaging enemy Ryders and attacking smaller ships. In fact the Knight was similar in appearance, but the differences was that it was designed for use in space like all Ryders with shoulder mounted machine guns for dealing with units with weak armor and defense as well as missiles. It carried a lance for close quarters combat with other Ryders, which used Maser Vibration Swords technology now adapted for use with Ryders by Lloyd.

For ranged combat they used a laser rifle with a single-use missile attached to the barrel, which could be carried on their rear hip armor when not in use. Mounted on their forearms were pulse guns for dealing with weaker targets while they possessed a backpack including thrusters for quick movements and on the feet as well too.

The third unit to be launched after the two Knight Ryders was a heavier unit with both of its arms possessing large canons in place of hands. Like the Knight units the BKR-02H Attila was inspired by heavy Ryder units meant to serve an anti-ship role, but its weapons were more than capable of dealing with enemy Ryders.

The Attila units were based upon the RPI-V4L Gareth of the Holy Britannian Empire, but heavily redesigned and updated by Lloyd. They still possessed the Hardon Cannons in place of hands, but improved and stronger thanks to them drawing power from a second fusion reactor installed into the Ryder along with a primary reactor to provide power for the rest of the machine. It had missile launchers on its chest and legs while a pair of rotating machine guns for flak against missiles were included. Then on their shoulders were a pair of VARIS rifles and lastly on the forearms were emitters for Blaze Luminous Shields.

"Sink the last of their carriers and disable the transport while we come around for another pass." Lelouch ordered over an open channel to his three Ryders.

"Yes sir!" The pilot responded together.

Upon being receiving their orders the Knight units began their attack by going after the Ryder units that had managed to launch before the Excalibur could sink their carriers. The Attila unit began targeting the last of the carriers as it was trying to quickly launch its Ryders. Opening up like their Gareth predecessors the Attila units fired a powerful Hardon Cannon blast as the shot tore through the rear of the ship where its engineering compartment should be.

Just after it launched one last unit the rest of the carrier exploded moments after the Attila attacked the ship using its shoulder-mounted VARIS guns to sink the ship following it up with another shot from its forearm mounted Hardon Cannon.

The average unit used by the pirates was a very old basic Ryder used by the Solar Alliance and New Empire during the war a hundred years ago. Similar to their ships it was whatever they could find in a junk yard and piece back together using obsolete and mismatched parts. As such the pirate Ryder has nil armor, but a very light frame making it fairly quick. Unfortunately it's poor design and the fact that old parts and that it was put together using whatever the pirates could get their hands on meant it was inefficient and badly assembled which affected their evasion capabilities due to terrible maintained work on their machines. Even through the pirate units had shields it didn't offer good protection, which meant the shield was probably a bunch of scrap metal put together. This likely made the evasion and mobility of the Pirate Ryder even worse.

Like the destroyers of most pirate gangs they try to put as many weapons on it as possible, so it came armed with twin-barrel lasers and a machine gun while some possessed missiles.

' _But there is another problem…'_ Lelouch thought as a smile graced his face under his mask.

Since the Alliance-Imperial War there have been no major wars since, which due to Solar Congress focusing more on its own internal issues and less on developing their military and the New Empire being forced to deal with its own set of internal problems within Ryder development virtually came to a standstill as a result. There were some places that continued Ryder development in one form or another as did the Solar Alliance, but not on a large and meaningful scale that would not only see new units and technologies rolled out but new tactics to utilized to be created as well.

Lelouch and Lloyd on the other hand sought to capitalize on that when laying ground work for their own military force of the rebuilt Black Knights.

' _Just like everyone else these pirates have made no effort to develop anything new, but relying on whatever they can get their hands on and using old tactics that are outdated.'_ Lelouch thought as his ship was already beginning to make another attack run while his Ryders had begun their attack. _'I'll develop new tactics and new Ryders to revolutionize space warfare using these building blocks we have made.'_

Pirates had numbers, but Lelouch's ship and Ryders were superior to the pirates' machines and ship in almost every possible way giving Lelouch and his Black Knights an overwhelming technological advantage over them. It only made matters even worse for them when the fact that their machines and tactics were something new and developed and not something done and reused by targets and law enforcement they are used to fighting.

Even fighting a losing battle the pirates kept fighting as the Ryders went to engage the two Knight units firing lasers at them as they approached. The transport attempted to flee but the Attila unit quickly attacked and disabled their engines with a gazing shot of its Hardon Cannons along its thrusters disabling it. The Pirate Ryders had no melee weapons to speak of so when the Knight Ryders closed the distance they used their dual-ended MSV Lances to cleave through one of the opposing Pirate Ryders.

Three pirate Ryders remained as one of the last destroyers was just sunk by the Excalibur on its second attack run leaving only the crippled transport left.

The second Knight unit engaged in a exchange of laser fire against one of the pirate Ryders while the first one fired its rocket-propelled grenade into the shield of a pirate Ryder trying to defend itself, but it was for naught as the explosion inflicted crippling damage upon the pirate machine allowing the Black Knight Ryder to swiftly finish it off.

Lelouch approached from behind in his ship as pulse cannons were being fired to pick off the remaining Ryders to help in the mop up.

The last pirate machine tried to flee, which was a pointless effort since it had nowhere to go, but the Attila finished off with a shot of its Hardon Cannon vaporizing the entire torso section of the Ryder before its remains exploded.

"Maintain a patrol around the ship and keep your eyes open for any more enemy units." Lelouch ordered once the bridge crew confirmed that all hostiles were eliminated. "Jeremiah and I along with an attack force will storm the ship."

"Yes sir…" everyone including the pilots and those on the bridge said in respond.

The Excalibur linked up with the crippled ship as it was likely that attempts were being made to get it going again. Once a connection had been made between the two ships through an extending boarding airlock that extended from the upper hull of the ship forming a bridge between them Lelouch and Jeremiah stood ready with two squads of well-armed Black Knight members wearing full body armor and combat gear armed with assault rifles.

The first squad made their way to the airlock of the crippled transport before using a portable computer device to hack the doors and force them open.

At the moment they opened gunfire rang from the interior of the ship as the pirates onboard were fighting to keep the boarders off their ship. The Black Knight soldiers hurled grenades followed by some smoke bombs down the hallway leading deeper into the ship. After a chain of explosions and the lack of return fire from the pirates the attack squads made their way deeper into the ship followed by Jeremiah and Lelouch enabling the two to safely board the ship.

Another squad of armed soldiers would remain behind to guard the way leading onto their ship.

"Squad one will move to secure the bridge while Squad two come with me." Lelouch ordered as the two squads broke up to carry out their assigned tasks.

* * *

A few minutes later near the center of the ship was where the captain of the crippled transport could be found as he frantically trying to gather some of his valuables as he knew his ship was being boarded, but he was intending to escape using an escape pod near engineering to avoid capture. Unfortunately for him Lelouch had contemplated that possibility and he might have escaped if he had just focused more on saving his own skin than collecting his notes and the credits he collected from his previous business dealings.

The door to his cabin was violently broken open by a small explosive device Jeremiah planted on the door.

The captain tried to grab a gun, but Jeremiah quickly entered the room using reflexes faster than the average human to quickly disarm the captain and restrain him for Lelouch as he stepped into the cabin a second later as the polished reflective surface of his Zero mask focused on the scared captain.

Lelouch took a moment to eye Jeremiah's captive which was all he needed since he was big and muscular, but his green and black clothes were tattered and dirty suggesting that the man hasn't bathed properly which was made more apparent by the cringing expression Jeremiah was making by restraining the man.

"You should have thought more about saving yourself than some trinkets, but could be that you were worried we would find something else?" Lelouch as Zero inquired.

"I am not going to talk to you!" The pirate captain shouted defiantly, but Lelouch merely coldly laughed before responding with.

"Talk…no…I am going to order you."

A slide away portion of the mask revealed Lelouch's right eye glowing red from the power of Geass.

* * *

An hour later deep within an asteroid field in another more remote corner of the Astral Expanse was a base built into a large asteroid that was well-fortified and protected. It was the headquarters of the Orion Pirates, but the leaders of the pirates aboard the station were growing concerned since their transport and escort forces were an hour overdue.

"Where the hell is that damn ship with the new merchandise?" A larger and heavier set man with a bit of blonde hair on top of his head wearing a sleeveless shirt with black pants.

"They just could be running late boss." A thinner and scrawnier pirate said who wore more casual clothing than his superior, but like some of the pirates it was clear hygiene was not a priority for them.

"He knows he cannot be late not when we got a sweet deal going here!" The boss snapped slamming down a metal mug onto the table he was sitting in front of.

"Let's just him a little more time then we can…" The skinny pirate began to say before a beeping sound was heard indicating a ship broadcasting the proper IFF was approaching. "Look he's here…I guess he was just held up that's all."

"He better have a good excuse or else he is…" The pirate leader said before his words trailed off after he tapped in a few buttons on his personal holo to bring up an exterior camera of the base, but instead of seeing the transport and the escort for it he saw the Excalibur instead having just completed a pin-point wrap jump. "SCRAMBLE OUR SHIPS AND RYDERS WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

* * *

"Open fire before they can have a chance to deploy their forces." Lelouch commanded from the bridge of his ship as the Ryders his vessel was carrying were already being launched.

"Firing main cannons sir!" The Gunner at his station reported as a pair of large Hardon Cannons mounted on the forward hull of the ship began charging up for a few seconds before firing into the hanger of the pirate's asteroid base.

The enlarged crimson beams tore into the hangers destroying docked Pirate Ironhogs and Destroyers including Ryder carriers as well too.

The few pirate Ryders that had been out and about on patrols were already rushing back to the base to defend from the attack by the Black Knights. The Knight and the Attila Ryders moved to intercept them while the Excalibur was docking with the asteroid base after using its weapons to wipe out all ships and Ryders stored inside hindering their ability to fight back. To complicate matters with the ship now docked with the asteroid base the base's own defenses could not attack the Excalibur without damaging itself in the process.

Once the docking was complete Jeremiah led three squads of heavily armed marines to storm the base as smoke and various electronic fires had broken out as a result of Zero's vicious attack on the hanger.

' _Thanks to that captain's….cooperation I had all of the information I needed to launch a surprise attack on this place including the needed IFF.'_ Lelouch thought as he strolled onto the base in the company of a squad of heavily armed soldiers.

At that moment a group of pirates came running up to them, but Lelouch opened up the sliding panel of his mask and spoke.

"I order all of you to obey my commands from this moment forward!" Lelouch declared as his Geass quickly took effect before the pirates could open fire on him.

"What are your orders?" The pirates said together in a slow and emotionless tone.

"Eliminate all hostiles in this place then assist my Ryders out there by using this base's defenses to shoot down the Ryders being used by the Orion Pirates."

"Yes sir!" The pirates said together before leaving to carry out Lelouch's orders.

The Black Knights under his direct command along with the highest ranked members knew of his Geass and what it was capable of, which is the reason why they wore combat helmets that not only protected them from various hazards but also from potential castings of Lelouch's Geass to avoid accidently using it on them.

In such a short time everything had gone to hell for the Orion Pirates as the leader of the group had just gotten reports of his own men firing on each other within the base and outside as manned defense turrets and missile batteries were firing on their own Ryders and patrolling Destroyers. It had been twenty minutes since Zero and the Black Knights had boarded the base with the pirates losing more ground by the second.

"Boss what are we going to do I think they got us!" The skinny pirate member cried out, but he was attempted to just make a run for it and save his own skin.

"We are not abandoning this base especially with all of the merchandise we are keeping here!" The boss replied before pulling out a gun ready to shoot his cowardly underling.

It wasn't long after that the door leading into the office that doubled as the pirate command center was blown open followed by smoke bombs being thrown in. The bombs went off spreading smoke into the room before several armed Black Knight soldiers stormed the ready intending to take the leader and his underling captive.

"Pirate Boss Edward Kid I presume…the leader of the Orion Pirates." Zero said as he walked into the room after his men had secured the room holding the pirate leaders at gunpoint.

"Just who the fuck are you?"

"I am Zero, leader of the Black Knights." Zero responded before a Black Knight soldier just got a call through the communicator built into his helmet.

"Sir we just got word that the captives have been found. There are a lot more than we had been expecting."

"I see, but we'll proceed as planned…send word back to the ship and tell Jeremiah to call for the transports we borrowed to begin transporting the people out of this hellhole." Zero ordered with a hint of pride in his voice having dismantled a pirate and slave trading ring.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! They weren't easy to collect they are merchandise!" Edward shouted in frustration which prompted Lelouch to draw his gun aiming it at his head.

"Your so-called merchandise is normal people who were taken from their lives and their homes by force to become slaves or worse." Lelouch roared angrily as the pirate had managed to sicken him on almost every possible level. "You have no right to sell them off like cattle, but make no mistake if the law doesn't punish you for this then you can bet that I will!"

"There are other pirate gangs out there…they won't let you get away with this!"

Lelouch only grinned under his mask at the threat.

"Let them try!"

* * *

A/N: well Lelouch in the words of Gino has "come back with a vengeance." In four years he has done kinda well for himself so far, but mostly because the pirates are poorly armed and don't have very capable ships. Of course they got a lot of numbers to make up for it so how will other pirates respond and how will the rest of the neutral rim respond to Zero's actions.

Find out next chapter and I hope you guys enjoyed this one.

I look forward to your reviews and feedback as they are very much welcomed.


	6. Chapter 6 Reactions

A/N: After getting over that bit of trouble with chapter three I had I guess every idea I have been thinking about and considering since I was stuck on that one part of chapter three has come spilling out.

First off thank you all for the reviews, although there won't be a lot of action in this chapter it is still a good opportunity for me to introduce some of the other characters in this story. Among them we get a look at our villains, although originally Arcadius's gender was kept unknown I am going to reveal it while Lelouch and some of those outside of PACT believe Arcadius is a different gender, the reason and such for this will be explained in a later chapter for those who didn't play Sunrider.

I got nothing further to mention except on with the chapter…

* * *

Chapter 6

Reactions

Traveling through wrap in another corner of the universe was C.C. in the company of Michael Garibaldi as the two were looking for a remote location that would ideal for their uses as a main base, but they were also looking for a place that would possess resources they could use in order to become a more self-sufficient organization without being dependant on the credits and supplies of other powers and organizations. Now the duo wasn't exactly wandering the unexplored and remote regions of the galaxy blindly, but rather they are using navigation maps and data recovered from the computer cores of the Ryuvian Cruisers they found which after comparing them to existing maps of the galaxy the Black Knights had indentified a possible number of locations which at present has not been explored and rediscovered by the larger galaxy.

Their searches were focused on class fourteen planets, which meant they were not only habitable but they should have plenty of resources. The only complication was the question of what condition these planets would be in after almost two thousand years.

' _If some of these planets have valuable resources as they claim including which I hope to find then the Holy Ryuvian Empire might have controlled or restricted access to such worlds to horde the untouched spoils for themselves or to use as a bid for more influence and power when the time came.'_ C.C. thought as she recalled Lelouch's words on the matter.

What he was hoping to find was a world with access to a material similar to or exactly like Ongessite.

Ongessite was very valuable material used in the creation of liquid Ongessite which can be used as a critical component in creating high-grade wrap drives and potent munitions. The only known source of Ongessite was the planet Ongess which was quoted to be the sewage pipe of hell in the galaxy due to a long history of being heavily exploited by the Holy Ryuvian Empire and later the New Empire. Even to today it has been exploited by various outside powers for its Ongessite.

Despite its value and use Lelouch wanted to find an alternative source so the Black Knights could become more independent. Lelouch reasoned that if the Holy Ryuvian Empire was similar to the Holy Britannian Empire then he suspected the royal family might have hidden away or forbade access to planets that could have possessed such a resource especially given the past Emperors of Ryuvia who wanted to limit the possible creation of weapons capable of laying whole galaxies to waste.

' _So Lelouch believes if the Ryuvian did find a planet possessing a resource superior to Ongessite they probably declared it a forbidden planet.'_ C.C. thought as they were using the combined navigation charts they had to check blank spots between the two maps in the hopes they could find such a planet. It was a huge gamble Lelouch was playing with, but hopefully if it paid off it would give them an advantage towards energy and fuel independence.

What cemented Lelouch's belief in such a planet existing was his own world, Earth.

' _If Ryuvia Prime was the cradle of humanity then how does Earth fit into it?'_ C.C. recalled Lelouch's words on the subject which when you thought about the existence of Sakuradite along with Thought Elevators and Geass which were possibly creations of the Ryuvian Empire you couldn't help but wonder how did a galaxy spanning Empire overlook their world.

Unless their planet was overlooked on purpose, which if it was true then there might have been other worlds overlooked as well too for possibly similar reasons.

"So are we there yet?" C.C. said as she was clearly bored.

"No we are not so stop asking…this might end up taking some time." Garibaldi said as he knew this was going to be a long mission which was going to test his patience.

* * *

Elsewhere in the galaxy on a planet that was a shell of its former self called Ryuvia Prime, which is claimed to be the birth place of humanity and formerly the seat of power in the galaxy until the collapse of the Holy Ryuvian Empire leaving nothing more than a hollow shell of what the planet once was. Even as some within the halls of its most fabled and famous landmark the Star Palace, an orbital fortress, which even after the passage of time is considered to possess one of the finest collections of art in the galaxy including the Star Fortress itself being considered a work of art itself having been home to past Ryuvian Emperors.

The class fourteen habitable planet with a current population of fourteen billion, but years of history and over ten thousand years worth of exploitation has lead what would be a planet full of natural resources to a shell of what it was, not unlike Ryuvia. With at least three moons, Ryuvia Prime is commonly referred simply as Ryuvia now that it has become the only territory of a fallen nation on its last legs.

Within the halls of the Star Palace inside her room sat two young women who were watching the news feeds on the galaxy through an enlarged holographic screen towering over them.

"In other news the civil wars and unrest plaguing the planet Versta has come to close finally thanks to the appointment of President Zefiris, who had just been rescued from captivity at the hands of the now former band of pirates called the Orion Pirates." A female newscaster with short brown hair wearing glasses and a blue suit announced as a screen behind her showed Captain Edward being hauled away by law enforcement officials on Versta. "His rescue along with the rescue of over seven hundred captives who had either been kidnapped from Versta and different locations around the Neutral Rim at the hands of the mysterious organization of vigilantes known as the Order of the Black Knights. Furthermore evidence that political enemies of President Zefiris reveal they were behind the kidnapping having collaborated with the pirates to ensure victory for Zefiris's opponent the now former Prime Minister of Versta Cardin Winchester."

"Oh this is so cool huh Chigara!"

The upbeat and seemingly eternal optimistic voice came from a red-haired woman whose hair was styled into a pair of pigtails with a fair skin complexion and green eyes. Despite being practically an adult her lack of maturity in terms of mentality was evident, especially considering the family she belonged to. Seemingly to further emphasize this Asaga wore more casual clothing consisting of a simple T-shirt and black pants instead of the more ornate attire and dresses expected of her.

"The civil wars that have been a huge problem on Versta since it became independent are ending?"

The softer and shy voice of the second occupant in the room and Asaga's best friend was Chigara Lynn Ashada. In an ironic contrast between them in personality and appearance the shy girl didn't like attention very much which she ended up ultimately attracting attention due to her savant intelligence and extremely impressive talents with technology. In fact the bookish, soft-spoken and bashful Chigara would prefer tinkering with gadgets more than interaction with people, which was due to having little experience with social interaction and related subjects due to having grown up in a fairly isolated environment.

Chigara was even slightly shorter than her friend Asaga, despite being about the same age as her, being a small and petite girl with a slender frame and gentle build, seeming comparable to a china-doll figurine in terms of body-proportions and figure. She has fair skin and short-cut periwinkle-blue hair with clipped bangs fastened with her self-made multipurpose pink hair-clip containing a music player, flashlight, and hair cleaning system, digital clock and more including defensive mechanisms such as a taser. She also has sapphire-blue eyes while she wore a black shirt with a dark blue skirt and a white lab coat.

"Yeah, but I guess the Black Knights did it again!" Asaga cheered like a little girl who had just watched the final moments of an episode featuring her favorite hero.

It has been at least six months since the Black Knights made their appearance, but three months since they took the entire Neutral Rim by storm becoming famous for their acts of heroism especially when it came to wiping out the various pirates plaguing the neutral rim.

"Our people on Versta have just received a video from Zero and we shall play its contents for you now at the request of Versta's new president."

The screen on the holographic monitor before the two young woman went black before the lights came on showing Zero standing proudly at the front with his arms folded over his chest, but you couldn't see that through his large black and gold trimmed cape he had wrapped around his body. Standing behind him in attention were members of the Black Knights wearing black uniforms complete with gray trimming with black transparent face plates hiding their identities complete with black forage cap.

The members were of various genders including male and female members, but behind them hanging from a wall was the emblem of the Black Knights, the Geass Sigil with a sword through it.

"People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit! We are the Black Knights!" Lelouch as Zero declared as his pre-recorded message was broadcasted throughout most if not all of the galaxy. "We of the Black Knights stand with all those who have no weapons to wield…regardless of what planet they are from. The Orion Pirates stole the lives and freedom of people to sell them like livestock condemning them to life a worse than death, so we made them pay for their actions. Just as we punished the Flaming Skull Pirates for raiding and attacked small colonies including pre-warp planets slaughtering their scores of their inhabitants while robbing them of their possessions and lives."

Chigara watched while Asaga seemed excited by the declaration.

"The Black Knights will never stand by and allow such cruelty to be carried out, and so we made each and every pirate of that pay for their actions. I will not repudiate battle on a fair and level field, but neither will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong. The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be KILLED! Wherever oppressors abuse their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again, no matter how mighty or formidable our foe may be!" Zero proclaimed as he once more made the same proclamation years ago when he first established the Black Knights, so it was only fitting he make the same proclamation again for its new incarnation.

"Look at that Chigara we got some real knights of justice!" The red haired girl exclaimed while seemingly ready to jump up and down like a child, but she restrained herself remembering her own age.

"Those of you with power fear us!" Zero declared as he extended his left arm out in a dramatic fashion before doing it again with his right arm as he declared. "Those of you without it, rally behind us! We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of the galaxy!"

After that Asaga turned off the holographic television before throwing her arms up into the air.

"THAT WAS COOL! We got some real heroes cleaning up the Neutral Rim!"

"But Asaga they are technically vigilantes, so I don't know how the other Neutral Rim worlds feel about them." Chigara said trying to be the voice of reason for her cheerful friend.

"Heh…I think they should be thanking because pirate activity is at an all time low now, which is…well unheard of." Asaga pointed out, which Chigara couldn't argue against because since the Black Knights first appeared pirate activity has been steadily dropping in the last few months. The fact that the Black Knight's actions led to Versta's civil wars ending by putting down the Orion Pirates and exposing the corrupt political opposition leaders in the process.

"I guess that is true…"

"Say Chigara what is that you have been working on?" Asaga inquired noticing the device her best friend has been working on.

It was hard to describe, but it almost looked like a toaster that had been completely repurposed with green neon lights glowing from the inside with mechanical blocks attached to the side with a red button and a keypad controller also attached to it.

"This is my Pastry Replicator…want to try it?"

"Oh…ok, so I press this button right?" Asaga said as her green eyes brightened in awe and interest.

"Uh-huh…" Chigara replied with a bright smile as her friend pushed the button causing an apple tart to materialize out of thin in air.

"This is just freaking cool Chigara!" Asaga exclaimed before pushing the button again this time materializing a cupcake with chopped strawberries on top with vanilla frosting. "You should just sell these and you can open up a whole chain of bakeries."

"But Asaga you know I only want to open up a single simple bakery." The blue eyed inventor said bashfully.

Her friend laughed before patting her on the back. "Yeah I know and that's what I like about you Chigara you are very modest even through you can do some amazing things."

Chigara smiled at the compliment, although it was true her intelligence and amazing talent with technology and machines she could very easy go into business as the head of an engineering cooperation to develop some brand new innovations but in reality Chigara was only interested in becoming the owner of a bakery.

* * *

Many throughout the galaxy were discussing the broadcast and proclamation of Zero and the official reveal of the Black Knights to the public at large in the galaxy, but among those most affected by it were the pirates who were already likely planning to counterattack against the threat of Zero and the Black Knights. But on another world was someone else who had taken an interest in events in the Neutral Rim since the Black Knights made their appearance on the galactic stage.

Deep within the territory that had once belonged to the New Empire, but was now PACT under its new leader. Within the halls of the grand palace that belonged to the Emperor of the New Empire which has now become the new home of PACT's current leader. Inside a private chamber that was hidden underground in what was once a shelter meant to be used by the Emperor and the Royal Family to take refuge in had been repurposed into both a shelter and a private sanctuary for the leader of PACT. The walls no longer bore any signs of the previous owner being completely covered in metal plating and blood red along with the rest of the well-lit sanctuary.

The enigmatic leader of PACT sat in a revolving chair with the armrests of said chair possessing different controls and keyboards for processing and reviewing every speck of information all around her. Everything from fleet deployment, tactical updates, general news and updates including news reports from places such as the Solar Alliance, the Neutral Rim and more came through this room for the leader of PACT to review and then decide on a course of action.

But today only one piece of information intrigued the mysterious leader of PACT as the holographic screen being projected from the right armrest of her chair showed a recording of Zero's proclamation and announcement of the Black Knights.

"So either a copycat or something more…" Veniczar S. Arcadius said as the silver iconic mask electronically distorted her voice giving a slick flavor of the disembodied.

The mask was known throughout PACT, as it was a silver expressionless mask of a face with elfin-like ears that concealed the wearer's face, but the hair and everything else below the neck was exposed. What could be seen of Arcadius is that she had fair skin with short pageboy-style periwinkle-blue hair. The rest of Arcadius's attire consisted of clothing befitting that of a count with the masked leader wearing black dress pants, a matching high-collared military coat with maroon-red cuffs, gold embroidery and vertical stripes stemming from the shoulders, kept tied by maroon-red fabric fasteners instead of buttons.

A naval pauldron rests upon her left shoulder atop the fastener for a short blood red cape and a red trident-like badge that is clipped to Arcadius's left breastbone. Completing the attire of PACT's mysterious leader was a pair of black gloves, an orange-gold ascot with a gold-inlaid ruby fastener and a red belt which would normally carry an ornately-designed rapier-style fencing sword at her hip but the blade sat upon a stand in another part of the room.

Arcadius silently studied the footage before quickly using the console built into the chair to call up every bit of information they had on the Black Knights and Zero so far. Her dainty hands skillfully worked the keyboard and computer controls like those of a master pianist. Veniczar S. Arcadius examined the information presented before her eyes and studied everything carefully looking for details or possible hints not present with their current information which was incomplete as far as Arcadius was concerned.

' _This new ship of the Black Knights, such an interesting design and concept…but'_ Arcadius thought looking over pictures from the news sources of Zero's ship called the Excalibur, although the notes mentioned new Ryders of a unique design there was nothing else other than witness testimonies which were surprisingly lacking in detail. Someone who would have seen them in action surely would have mentioned something much more than vague mentions. _'Are they simply a band of pitiful wretches who revived a long dead organization and someone trying to play the role of Zero?'_

The fact they possessed a newly built vessel using weapons that shouldn't be possible for a simple gang of want-a-be heroes to get their hands on was evidence enough.

' _No there must be more such as how did they obtain the resources to build their own ship and Ryders?'_

Despite all of the information present Arcadius concluded that the Black Knights and Zero were a curious, but problematic unknown that could be trouble if left unchecked when the time came for PACT to invade the Neutral Rim.

Making a decision Arcadius activated the FTL transmitter in the room to speak with her right hand man.

His hologram materialized within seconds as he dutifully responded promptly. He was already bowing respectfully before his superior as his hologram finished appearing. He was young, but an adult, who was a tall and lean handsome young man in his early twenties. He has long dark-purple hair that cascade in a series of locks that stops short of going past his shoulders, fair skin and intense sky-blue eyes showing a fierce loyalty for his superior. His choice of attire was a black gentlemen's long dress coat with gold trim and a maroon-red interior lining with a gold-chain link fastener. He also was wearing a red undercoat with ruffled sleeves that show from under the cuffs of his coat and a gold ascot with a ruby-inlaid fastener along with dress-slacks with black polished dress shoes.

"Veniczar…" Veniczar B. Fontana greeted politely and with the upmost respect.

"Rise Fontana…" Arcadius commanded as her understudy and second in command did as he was told standing before his leader. "We are sure you have heard about recent events in the Neutral Rim?"

It took only the purple-haired Veniczar a second to realize the one thing that could have drawn Arcadius' interest.

"The Black Knights?" Fontana answered crispy prompting Arcadius to nod in confirmation.

"They have proven far more capable than a group of their size should suggest especially in regards to that ship they have."

"I concur, but could someone be supporting them?"

"We believe this is likely, but we know too little about them. I want you to contact Captain Miguel Kidd and instruct him to deal with the Black Knights. We'll supply him with whatever credits he needs to amass a force capable of challenging them head on." Arcadius commanded.

"I understand, but what if he refuses?"

"Then remind him of our agreement and what will happen if he fails to fulfill it."

Fontana bowed before dismissing himself. "I understand and I'll make certain Captain Miguel understands as well."

"Very good Fontana, but send one of our agents to observe events with strict instructions not to get involved in any way as their task is to only observe the conflict between the pirates under Miguel's flag and the Black Knights."

"Understood…" Fontana replied understanding Arcadius' intentions moments before the transmission ended causing the hologram to vanish.

Arcadius rose from the chair she sat in before retreating to her private chambers for a few minutes before returning with a small electronic device that clearly looked worn out externally being at least over a hundred years old. Still through her hand and technical skills the device functioned and its contents restored to some degree, which Arcadius sought to use. Plugging in the device into her chair the masked leader of PACT uploaded the files contained within the small device to go over its contents.

They were video files leading to Arcadius to open the second file dubbed second televised appearance.

A brief show of static could be seen on the screen before it revealed Zero standing on the boat with a group of his followers in the middle of a lake with life-boats containing various people surrounding it. Arcadius knew this event well as one person who she had been close to told him/her stories about the heroics of a man called a messiah and a maker of miracles. In one year he had brought the world's strongest superpower to its knees before treachery nearly undid all he had worked for.

Fewer knew she had been told such a story by the person she heard the story from. But that person was gone now and Arcadius held onto the few possessions he had for reasons known only to Arcadius.

"The way they speak and even the hand gestures are similar right down to their words being almost the same." Arcadius mused before playing both proclamation videos side by side while running a voice recognition test between the two men called Zero in both videos.

The results were: **Voice Recognition 100% MATCH!**

' _Could just be better voice box installed in the mask, but we'll see if you are just a poor copycat. But…are you somehow involved in this C.C?'_ Arcadius thought as her hands suddenly tightened in barely suppressed anger.

* * *

Hidden within an asteroid belt in a remote and forgotten corner of the Neutral Rim was an old base that had been once used by the Solar Alliance during the Imperial-Alliance War a hundred years ago. Even though it had been abandoned and not used for a hundred years it remained in remarkably good condition, but it had required much work and restoration to bring the base back up to operational status allowing it to become the secret headquarters of the Black Knights.

Sitting in what used to be the Commander of the Base's office had now become Zero or rather Lelouch's own office and room within the base. He was watching the latest news feeds from around the Neutral Rim as the various worlds and groups responded to his message and declaration. He couldn't help but feel nostalgic about doing the declaration and reveal of the Black Knights, so much so that he worded the speech to be similar to his original word unintentionally.

' _But it will confuse anyone who might have heard about the legend of Zero from Earth bringing into question if I am a copy cat.'_ Lelouch thought concluding that almost mincing his own speech could work to his own advantage, although it was unlikely anyone outside of the Black Knights would know of his existence on Earth in the past. On the other hand it could be helpful in revealing anyone who did and see how they react accordingly which could serve his purposes either way.

A beeping sound at his door drew his attention disrupting his thoughts.

"It's me…" Jeremiah said from the other side of the door through intercom.

"Come in…" Lelouch commanded leaving his mask off before shutting off the holographic screens around him to focus on his coming discussion with Jeremiah.

"I take it reactions are divided?"

"Of course it brings me back remembering how the world reacted to my existence and then that of the Black Knights." Lelouch mused with a smile before brushing such thoughts aside to focus on the matter at hand. "But I cannot let such things get in the way, because this is a critical time for us. Jeremiah has everything been arranged?"

"Yes and as per your instructions we have divided a majority of our growing numbers into smaller mercenary and bounty hunting parties to amass more credits and funds for our organization as well as provide additional forms of intelligence gathering on various groups and parties in the Neutral Rim." Jeremiah explained before activating the holo on his wrist to display a holographic screen displaying various forms of information.

"This will also help keep the Neutral Rim worlds from troubling us too much because if our numbers were to publically grow too large then it would end up working against us if those worlds sought to eliminate us as a threat." Lelouch said as he reviewed the information Jeremiah was showing him while he was already planning the next moves the Black Knights would make.

"I agree, but I would like to tell you that we traced the funds President Zefiris's political opponents had been using to pay off the Orion Pirates and using to fund the various anti-government forces on Versta." Jeremiah explained before scrolling through the information on his holo to find bank account forms their newly minted intelligence division had managed to collect through help of Versta's law enforcement, the Mining Union and using underworld information brokers their intelligence agents had contact with. "It all lead to a Neutral Rim world called Centaur that sits on the edge of…"

"PACT space I assume?"

"Correct, which seems to support your suspicions and confirms the intelligence Kururugi gave us that Arcadius is supporting pirate groups in the Neutral Rim as well as other parties like those who opposed President Zefiris whose reforms once he took office would have ended the civil wars and unrest plaguing the planet." Jeremiah noted.

"Yes Suzaku's information said that Arcadius using third-party proxies was supporting anti-government groups on Versta to keep the planet destabilized to make its conquest a lot easier when they begin their invasion of the Neutral Rim. I suspected this went a lot further than just one world, but this confirms it." Lelouch said as he rested his head on his hands while he had his arms propped up on his desk in deep contemplation. It did seemed odd for Arcadius to be focusing on stabilizing a single world that had no real value than just being another world PACT would inevitably conquer. However if one looked at it differently and considered the possibly of using pirates and funding anti-government groups to cause havoc in the Neutral Rim it could work to the advantage of PACT to use those groups to weaken the defenses of Neutral Planets before moving in to conquer them.

It would also make it easier for PACT to crush any chance of resistance groups forming against them once said planet was conquered.

' _Besides it's something I would have done if I was Arcadius seeking to conquer the Neutral Rim.'_ Lelouch said as he was looking at it from Arcadius's point of view while taking into account the various and possible factors the masked leader of PACT was no doubt considering. _'Arcadius is likely taking into account the Solar Alliance might decide to intervene, although with its political deadlock and the Solar Congress being dominated by members of the Progressive Party will likely prevent the Alliance from becoming involved until the Neutral Rim has been conquered or worse until PACT invades the Solar Alliance itself.'_

From what Lelouch knew about the Solar Alliance and its current political state this was a likely outcome at this point, but if his own past experiences have taught him anything that unexpected events and factors could emerge without warning.

' _Still there is always the possibility that could change and Arcadius is probably aware of that. No matter how unlikely the possibly of the Solar Alliance becoming involved before the conquest of the Neutral Rim is completed he'll be seeking ways to quicken the conquest of the Neutral Rim to avoid a war on two fronts.'_

Lelouch also took into account the fact that Arcadius had taken what had been a rat-tag group of resistance fighters that had fought against a military force possessing better ships, weapons and more soldiers then Compact probably did at its height to topple a powerful galactic superpower despite it being in decline. Now the same person who brought down the New Empire had far more resources, weapons, ships and men to command than before, but he couldn't see Arcadius as the foolish type who would squander and waste resources or make careless mistakes.

' _If I was Arcadius I would be possibly worried about the threat the Black Knights would represent.'_ Lelouch thought as he reasoned that if Arcadius's goal was to destabilize the Neutral Rim as a whole to make its conquest easier and quicker when PACT invades then surely he should have heard about the Black Knights by now. _'Possessing a ship that is superior to anything most pirates and even some government militaries have and new Ryders as well…I would likely seek whatever information I can get and then find a way to neutralize us.'_

"Uh your majesty?" Jeremiah said noticing that Lelouch was very deep in thought, but his most loyal subordinate's words brought him out of it.

"I am sorry Jeremiah but I was just thinking. We need to get our information gathers out of there to collect information on pirate movements. I think we're about experience an escalation in hostilities between us and them." Lelouch reasoned before rising from his chair.

"You mean these pirates are going to be coming after us?"

"Yes and I am sure Arcadius will be the one who will push them into action since we are right now an unknown threat to him." Lelouch said before donning his trademark mask. "If I were Arcadius planning an invasion of the Neutral Rim which could, although it's unlikely, push the Solar Alliance into action against us in the middle of said invasion."

"But political deadlock and division within the Alliance will not push them into action soon enough I thought?"

"You are right on that account Jeremiah, but something could happen that could change that. A fact I am sure Arcadius is all but too aware of." The former Emperor replied sagely while gesturing for Jeremiah to follow him as they walked out of his office. "If he wants to crush the Alliance before they decide to act against PACT he'll need to conquer the Neutral Rim quickly and consolidate all of his newly held territories for an effective and destructive campaign if he wants to inflict crippling damage to the Alliance before wiping it out."

"I see, so from Arcadius's point of view we could become a problem that could hinder it."

"Exactly, although publically the rest of the galaxy believes we are one ship with a few Ryders. But somehow I wouldn't put it pass someone like Arcadius to suspect we may have more resources and weapons than what the public knows if you look at how our ship and three Ryders are superior even to some smaller Neutral Rim planetary governments' military." Lelouch said as he and Jeremiah made their way to an observation platform.

"Then what do we do?"

"We stay the course, but we'll need to hurry. I hope C.C. and Michael will find a better location for our base of operations with some untapped resources we can use to continue our predations. Because once PACT begins its invasions we'll need to find some alternative means of obtaining the resources and funds for our operations."

"Let us hope for the best then until those pirates make the first move, but if I may suggest we should try to accelerate our projects. I fear time is going to become something of a rare commodity."

"You are probably right about that Jeremiah." Lelouch said grimly as he gazed out into space where he saw old space docks that had once been used by the Alliance navy to resupply and repair their ships, but now those docks have been repurposed into construction yards for new ships.

The Excalibur was never intended to be a one-of-a-kind ship, but it wouldn't be the only new ship.

The Excalibur-class ships would no doubt become the workhorse of the Black Knight's naval forces, but against the might of PACT and their more heavily armed and numerous military they would need larger and more powerful ships capable of matching or superior to battleships and carriers. Through a special arrangement with the Cera government or at least certain leaders in its military a joint-development project was being conducted.

Cera's version of the project was being slowed down due to political roadblocks and disagreements within its military, but since the Black Knights had no political oversight or really anything to stop them with various resources at their fingertips the project proceeded unhindered on their end.

' _Unless those idiots behind Cera's leadership get off their act together and face the truth they'll be steamrolled by the PACT war machine.'_ Lelouch thought with a look of frustration on his face that was concealed by his mask.

In one of the repurposed dry-docks was the hull of an incomplete vessel, but with time it would be finished within a year. It was at least seven hundred and eighty meters in length with a smooth arrowhead-like design with small wings built into the overall hull and body giving it a more sleek appearance. Unlike most battleships and carriers the towers commonly seen were lowered than most, which was to prevent any kind of high towers or raised sections of the ship becoming a tactical liability.

"We may not have numbers on our side, but our ships and Ryders will be of a higher quality." Lelouch said as he gazed out at the work of what would become his personal flagship and the first of new kind of ship.

The idea was being pioneered by Cera's military engineers and designers, but Lelouch was realizing the concept of an Assault Carrier that would carry a Ryders and serve as both a carrier and a battleship rolled into one. Were it not for the political issues and problems its development was facing then more than likely the Cera government would have built it by now, but work on it still continued behind the scenes with Lloyd helping them in the design phase offering suggestions and input in exchange for assistance in their own development of the ship.

Despite being confident in potent capabilities of his growing army and weapons Lelouch feared it might not be enough.

* * *

The following day deep within PACT territory at a hidden shipyard complex located within an asteroid that drifted around a small moon several light-years away from New Eden. Suzaku was exiting a transport shuttle that had brought him from the PACT battleship he commanded as Veniczar C. Kururugi as one of the highest ranked commanders within PACT who reported to Arcadius or the person he was visiting the secret shipyard to meet with. His attire consisted of clothing similar to what he had worn as a Knight of the Round, but styled with the red and black colors common with leaders of PACT.

Technically he wasn't at the shipyard itself, but rather at a security space station, one of a dozen, set up around the surrounding area to work with heavy patrols of PACT cruisers, carriers and battleships to keep anyone not permitted to see what was being constructed from entering under pain of death.

"Welcome to Section Zero Shipyards Veniczar C. Kururugi." Fontana said greeting the elderly commander with a respectable greeting, although Fontana was technically his superior as he was a Veniczar B and Suzaku was just below him as a Veniczar C he was still recognized as one of the oldest members of the former Compact before its reorganization into PACT.

Furthermore Suzaku and Fontana had a long history of working together.

"Please Veniczar B. Fontana you don't have to be so formal since you are my superior." Suzaku said returning the greeting with a light bow accompanied with a gentle smile.

"I may be your superior, but you have been with PACT and its predecessor much longer than I." Fontana said giving Suzaku respect as one would to a senior despite their ranks being reserved.

Of course there was the fact that the other Veniczar who shared the same rank as Fontana was less than pleasant to deal with, so it was clear the young man preferred Suzaku's company over his equal in rank co-worker who just about represented everything Fontana despised about the New Empire.

The two men boarded a specialized observation shuttle which would take them to the main heavily guarded shipyard that was under extremely tight security with only those of Fontana's rank and above being aware of what was being constructed. Once they were underway Suzaku and Fontana sat down together on one of the chairs in the observation room of the shuttle that would allow both men a bird's eye view of construction efforts once they reached the shipyards.

"I heard you met with her again recently." Suzaku inquired prompting Fontana to nod as a sadden expression appeared on his face.

"She has become even less like the Arcadius I remembered."

"You are remembering the time on Threala…when you two met."

"I was saved from a life of continued slavery because of Arcadius. Back then Arcadius was like heroic paladin of justice who truly stood for the ideals that Compact had been built on while seeking to end the suffering and brutal opposing of the New Empire." Fontana speaking with a proud fondness of the time he met Arcadius who had saved him. He was but a young boy then, but his dedication and intelligence despite his age ensured his rise through the ranks of Compact before it became PACT.

"Your mother was a slave and she was pregnant with you when you were sold to that lord on Threala."

"Yes and he would always brag about how he got a two-in-one deal because of it." Fontana remembered as the hate he bore for his owner who was raised him like a pet, although he was educated for his owner to prove he could have better quality slaves if they were educated properly. Fontana would use this education to his advantage to aid Compact on missions once he joined having heard stories and idolized the group before joining them.

Suzaku remembered the time he and Arcadius met for first time. His eyes sparked and the expression of reverence upon his face was endearing as if savor from the heavens had come to pull him out of the hellish life of a slave.

"So much has changed hasn't it?" Suzaku said solemnly deciding to change the subject a little.

"Yes…nothing what we have expected when the New Empire fell, but I wonder if this is her way of punishing them?"

"You might be right I fear, but…" The elderly man said as he allowed his words to trial off.

' _I fear this will only get worse from here.'_

"Instead of focusing on helping and restoring the improvised worlds that had been left to poverty or worse under the New Empire remain the same. Instead of using our newly acquired resources and factories to help those worlds we are now pouring everything into the development of more Ryders and ships building a much larger military than we need." Fontana said with solemn tone as a clear indication he did not like the direction Arcadius was taking PACT.

Neither men liked it, but there was nothing they could do otherwise they would only meet the same fates of those who tried to oppose Arcadius.

Sensing this meeting was more than a simple inspection Suzaku decided to ask with a serious expression on his face.

"Fontana would you mind telling me the real reason you called me here, because I think you wanted me for something else than conducting an inspection?"

Fontana seemed ashamed, but not by his own actions but it was clear something was troubling him greatly.

"Tell me have known revenge?"

Suzaku carefully contemplated the question for a moment before giving his answer.

"Yes…more than even I wish to know."

"Then tell me, what you think of her reasoning behind building something like that." Fontana said gesturing for Suzaku to gaze at the massive construction effort taking place on the surface of the moon.

Suzaku rose from his chair to get a better view, but he quickly regretted his decision as his blood went cold at what he saw while the color drained from his face. Seeing what was being built caused a memory to flash of a white flying fortress called Damocles capable of untold devastation using terrible weapons created upon his world many years ago.

But what he saw was something much worse than Damocles.

He didn't need to be an engineer to know that when you build a massive ship of three kilometers in length, designed to look like a giant cannon with the stern being the largest part of the ship, other than the center section of the vessel that matched the rear, containing massive engines and a ring around it when had four long metal arms that stretched over the main body of the ship as the ship shrunk in size the closer it got to its bow where a large cannon could be seen under construction. Even through only a good portion of the superstructure and outer hull was finished Suzaku could tell much internal work and weapons needed to be done. From what Suzaku could see so far of the ship he saw placement points and weapons already installed indicating that this ship had, or would, enough laser, kinetic, missiles and machine cannons mounted upon its hull to take down an entire fleet on its own.

Its thick armor hull and the shields they might install would make it very difficult to damage it, but it was the large cannon on the bow of the ship which looked like a gaping maw that Suzaku feared would be the ship's trademark weapon.

"Fontana…just what is that?"

"A new super-dreadnought designed by PACT's best engineers. As I am sure you noticed at is bow is a powerful spinal beam cannon designed by Arcadius herself. This is to be PACT's secret weapon when we invade the Alliance, although I fear she might decide to use it sooner than expected depending on circumstances."

"That laser is for downing entire fleets…right." Suzaku said nervously, but he knew just as Fontana did that this ship was more than merely something to wipe out small fleets with on its own.

With a look of pained regret on his face while trying to mask his own distaste of the terrible weapon being built below them he answered. "No I am afraid the laser is capable of…or rather…designed to be able to wipe out large targets from orbit completely wiping out an projected estimate of ten kilometers of the target zone all around according to simulations."

Horror washed over Suzaku like a dark cloud, but any doubts he might have had about convincing Lelouch to become Zero again to stop Arcadius was instantly gone.

"Arcadius is naming this ship…the Legion."

* * *

A/N: just when it seems Lelouch is off to a good start we find there might be some complications along the way with a monster of a city and fleet busting warship like the Legion going to be a huge problem.

But the Legion itself is merely one challenge and danger Lelouch will face in this story.

Although he won't have big numbers to fill the ranks of the Black Knights, but hopefully Lelouch's quality over quantity approach will work out for him.

I am glad I got to introduce Asaga and Chigara as they will have important roles in the story, and I avoided mentioning Asaga's surname on purpose to avoid spoiling her exact identity and status on Ryuvia Prime, although I am sure some of you have already guessed it while others probably played the game and know already. I am merely trying to avoid spoiling too much for those who haven't played the game.

The invention Chigara builds was a way to showcase her talents while at the same time its a nod to her Sunrider Academy counterpart.

We find out about Suzaku's exact place in PACT as one of its high ranked Veniczar and his exact relationship with one of its major leaders and hinting at knowing much more about Arcadius and probably more than what he told Lelouch. Why he kept his mouth shut will be revealed much later in the story, but for now the poor man must endure and be the spy Lelouch and the Black Knights need.

I'll introduce some more characters in the coming chapters including those who will be key crewmembers of Lelouch's flagship and the Excalibur. I just didn't do so because he would get a different crew later on.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to the feedback/reviews, and the poll is still ongoing.


	7. Chapter 7 Independant Actions

A/N: this arc might be a little longer than I thought, although this chapter is going to be shorter only because I thought it was a good point to end it. However this is building up to another battle coming Lelouch's way which will cement his reputation as a Knight of Justice or rather a Demon of Justice.

After all your enemies will define you.

But I would like to thank those who reviewed the last chapters as I greatly appreciate the feedback and support.

I might continue this Black Knights Rising Arc for a while longer since I have been coming up with more ideas than I thought for it.

Thanks once again to Grey Wolf4 for his help with this chapter including helping me some information about the Sunrider's universe that is a very big help with some characters for this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 7

Independent Actions

Somewhere on one of the many heavily overpopulated habitation modules of the planet Ongess, which was unanimously known as the most hellish planet in the entire galaxy as centuries of a uncontrolled Ongessite mining, especially the time the New Empire once controlled the planet, has left the class seven with catastrophic environmental damage leaving it nothing more than a bare rock. Its situation made worse by the fact that the planet's massive population of thirty-eight billion people is crowded into slums. This was due to extremely poor, or rather a lack of, civil planning, technology, medical aid and education has turned Ongess into an overpopulated diseased-ridden world.

Because of these conditions and the fact that even after becoming independent the world is still exploited regularly by other nations and corporations who want access to Ongessite.

So it was no surprise perhaps that many of its people have become involved with criminal syndicates and pirate groups in an effort to get away from the hell that was Ongess.

Inside a hidden room large enough to accommodate fifty people was where the largest gathering of pirates and crime bosses was taking place. At the head of a meeting sat a muscular man wearing a black trench coat with a white dress shirt underneath who was surprisingly clean and kept his appearance clean as well, but those who knew the man would know that Captain Miguel Kidd was the most bloodthirsty and dangerous pirate of them all whose reputation and followers he commanded made him the most powerful of the gathered crime bosses and other pirate leaders.

Swiping a single black glove hand through his blonde hair he kept combed back as his blue eyes scanned the gathering he rose from his chair using his hands to gesture for his fellows to quiet down allowing him to speak.

"My fellow pirates and friends we are gathered here today to talk about a problem plaguing us and if we leave this problem unchecked it will become a serious threat to us."

"So it's about Zero isn't it?" A crime boss, but this time he was a large obese man with a bald head wearing a white business suit with a black tie and red undershirt with green eyes. "He is just one ship and a few Ryders who have gotten lucky, so I don't see any real reason to worry."

"Lucky my ass he has taken out Edward's group and a dozen others in the last six months. Not even the fucking military of the neutral rim have done that." Another pirate captain snapped before an argument began to erupt between the gathered pirate leaders and crime bosses.

But Miguel stopped it from escalating further by firing a pistol into the ceiling to silence everyone.

"That is enough," Kidd roared as everyone quieted at the sight of his furious and bloodthirsty gaze. "Consider this. I am not only speaking on behalf of some of us when I say this but there is someone who wants Zero dead and said person is going to give me plundered wealth of the New Empire and seven worlds to make Zero's death happen."

"What the hell are you talking about Kidd?" Another Crime Boss demanded.

"I am talking about a very hefty reward will go to those who help me find and destroy Zero. We will crush him completely and those of you involved will walk away very rich men." Kidd asked as a smile appeared on his face seeing that he had the attention of everyone in the room now. "My sponsors have been very generous so far and I would like to extend what they are offering in the future to you, although they have asked to remain anonymous for now but I think this offering they are giving us might prompt you all to consider it."

"Why should we believe you?" Another pirate leader demanded.

"Because if we don't do something about this now then it is only a matter of time before Zero is going to start wiping out more of us until nobody is left." Kidd said gently, but with a serious tone.

Among the gathered crowd a girl who hasn't appeared to have aged in years was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chosen attire a purple Ryder pilot suit with black trim. Cosette Cosmos quietly listened to the gathering including the arguments and threats that was beginning to fly around. Her sour expression made it difficult for any outside observe to tell if she wasn't interested in the discussion or not, but her own pirate group she had been building had managed to stay below the radar of the Black Knights due to both its size and reputation.

And the reputation of Cosette Cosmos has become mixed over the last two years.

Originally a native from Ongess who like many who lived on the planet joined a pirate group as soon as possible, but the rest of her past was something no one dared attempted to discuss with her unless they had a death wish. As a result all kind of rumors began to float around about her, which Cosette didn't care much about them unless they were about her height. One thing the pirates in her own gang had learned with a few learning the hard way that if you talk about or especially mock Cosette's height then the blonde haired pirate will kill you in a very painful way.

"So Cosette are going to get in on this?" Another pirate gang leader asked her.

"No fuck that shit." Cosette replied bluntly before adding. "Bringing that many pirates together is like painting a fucking bull's-eye on your back. If Zero doesn't end up killing them I wager three hundred credits whoever Kidd brings together will end up backstabbing one another when it's over."

After that Cosette decided to leave the gathering as she felt the meeting was going nowhere else that would justify for her to remain.

The meeting lasted longer after Cosette left, but soon after it was over a number of pirate gangs and even some of the criminal syndicates offered to pledge their support to Kidd and his assembled forces to hunt down the Black Knights.

But one of their own sent out a coded transmission once he was alone aboard the ship he traveled with his fellow pirates.

* * *

In the field of asteroids near the Black Knight's hidden base Jeremiah, Lloyd and Lelouch were observing field exercises of new combat pilots while training their current ones to improve and sharpen their skills. Even through the observation deck of the base gave them a good view of the asteroid field where the test was taking place at it was too far away to see what was going on. Thankfully a dozen different holographic screens provided the observers with plenty of opportunities to watch the test.

As Jeremiah supervised the combat testing and training of the new recruits, Lelouch and Lloyd were going over information on new possible recruits the Black Knights had been scouting. Jeremiah was observing the testing of a new unit which was designed to be a new kind of Ryder designed specifically for both reconnaissance and sniping of enemy targets from afar. The Knight units out there now were supposed to find the sniper to stop him from shooting more targets.

Once he gets seven scored hits without getting caught he will win the exercise and prove the effectiveness of the unit.

"His name Bob Ritter, a former member of Cera Military Intelligence Division who has left due to growing disillusionment with the military over lack of expansion and improvement." Lloyd explained as Lelouch read over his profile.

"I presume this is due to PACT?"

"Naturally as it has been some for the cases of new recruits we have been picking up from militaries of other neutral worlds that either dismissed them as paranoid warmongers or they left on their own accord."

In the last year there have been more signs of PACT building up its military forces and stationing a concerning number of their forces along the borders of the Neutral Rim. Officially this is to increase boarder security against pirates, which might have been an acceptable excuse, but the numbers of forces have been steadily growing.

Even some of the neutral planets who had once been completely ignorant of the threat posed by PACT began to voice more of their concerns to their respective leaders who were either ignored or dismissed from service like Bob had been.

' _Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if PACT was paying off certain leaders of those neutral worlds to sabotage any preparation efforts or preventive measures prior to their invasion of the rim.'_ Lelouch thought as he found the idea of such a thing happening very likely, which was why he was trying to build up more of an intelligence division within the Black Knights.

They had a decent number of information brokers they can turn to and agents, but it wasn't enough especially if they wanted to investigate planetary leaders. They didn't just need more people for their division, but they needed people familiar with said planets and the people needing to be investigated so they could easily gather enough evidence to prove their corruption without tipping them off.

"Investigate his background a little more before we recruit him. If it checks out assign him to one of our bounty hunter sub-groups until we can test his loyalty and rule out him being a spy." Lelouch said making the decision onto recruiting Bob, but like most new members they were usually assigned to a bounty hunter group as a way of testing them in both skill and character to determine if they are trustworthy or a spy.

"Sure thing," Lloyd said filling Bob's file under approved before moving onto the next recruit, "Here is the next one."

The next person for Lelouch to review was a young woman in her early twenties with long lush pink hair that hung over thickly on her shoulders and presumably reaching down her back to her waist. She had a fair skin tone and a beautiful face with violet eyes. Lelouch raised an eyebrow under this mask because unless Lloyd was playing a joke on him he could have sworn he had just been given the profile on a supermodel instead of someone who was Black Knight's material.

"The next one is Claude Triello. She was a certified doctor, but at present she is something of a freelancer. I thought we could expand our medical staff."

"What do you mean WAS?" Lelouch said studying the image of Claude a little more. There was something about that girl that reminded him of Milly somehow. He didn't get the feeling she was into weird costumes and parties like Milly was, but rather the smiling expression he saw on Claude's face was something he recognized from Milly as an early warning sign that trouble was to be expected.

"Oh nothing much she had her medical license suspended due to malpractice." Lloyd answered causally forcing Lelouch to look further into Claude's profile and review the information himself.

"WARNING: this individual is known to masquerade as a medical practitioner. Her skills fall well below the standards of modern medical care. Patients are advised to seek the advice of a professional medical practitioner and not this individual." Lelouch said reading the warning that had been attached to her long list of crimes she was wanted for in five neutral rim planetary systems, including Alliance Space, which included gross negligence, and a lot of counts of improper conduct. Many of which involved molesting her own patients.

As a result Claude Triello has been banned from EVERY medical licensing agency in the known galaxy.

Lelouch read over the summaries of some of the reports and charges against Claude he found that the woman had been charged with inappropriately touching her patients, the vast majority of whom were handsome men with an occasional victim being a beautiful women sometimes with some relation to the male victim. As Lelouch read over these reports his face paled as he came to a single realization.

' _I just found someone who is far more of a pervert than Milly, Clovis and Kaguya put together.'_

The masked man had come to the conclusion that for whatever reasons Claude for becoming a doctor it was also motivated to indulge in exercising her perversions.

"Lloyd…just…no." Lelouch said unsympathetically as he did not hesitant to hit the REJECT button.

"What's the problem Lelouch? We're all considered outlaws and you have done crimes much worse than that woman did. Besides don't we need doctors to help supplement our forces?" Lloyd argued as the prospect of having someone like Claude in their ranks barely bothered him.

"True, but I doubt the men would appreciate having a woman of her very questionable work ethic onboard. I am even certain we'll have some problems and complaints from our female members as well if what I gleamed from her criminal record is anything to go by." Lelouch said fearing that Claude would be more trouble than she would be worth.

"Anyway I think the exercise should be coming to a close." Lelouch said deciding to go over the rest of the recruitment applications and intelligence they had on new members they were considering to add to the ranks of the Black Knights.

Lloyd and Lelouch joined Jeremiah at the observation deck observing what was probably the closing minutes of the exercise.

"The new recruits have improved." Jeremiah commented as he noticed Lelouch and Lloyd having joined him in watching. The three watched two teams of Knight Ryder units using specialized training guns that fired paintball like rounds to simulate real combat in realistic conditions as they were hunting down the new unit Lloyd had designed as part of training for the pilots and a performance exercise rolled into one. Although they had simulators Lelouch and even Jeremiah felt that simulators could only teach so much and sometimes a taste of the real thing would go much further than combat in a simulator.

"Two shots left until our sniper wins the match." Lelouch reported checking the scoreboard on the live exercise happening outside via his holo on his wrist.

The Ryders outside continued their search to find the sniper, but thanks to the asteroids their quarry had plenty of hiding places.

' _But that is not the only problem.'_

Lelouch smiled smugly under his mask as he knew aside from actually trying to spot the sniper the new unit Lloyd designed was not only able to fulfill the role of a sniper, but it had the capabilities of acting as a long-range reconnaissance machine and electronic warfare. In conjunction of being able to operate for much longer periods on its own the new unit was designed with a advance electronic warfare and countermeasures package inspired by the remains of a Ryuvian Scout unit they had recovered. They couldn't salvage its weapons, but they were able to study and reserve engineer the long range scanner dish and optical scanner equipment.

From that along with some creative input and ideas from Lloyd was called the BKR-03S Cherubim.

Built to serve the roles of a sniper, scout and ECM support while using its electronic countermeasures and warfare package to not only interfere and disrupt enemy communications as well as invade their ships and Ryder's operating systems, but to mask itself more effectively from enemy sensors. Its sniper rifle was a long-range type Super VARIS rifle designed specifically for long range, but also with a barrel to hide the flash of light that would be emitted by both the shot and the bullet itself in order to hide the shooter from enemies.

At that moment the second to last target was hit, so unless the team found the sniper before he shot the final target they would lose and sniper would win. Under the mask Lelouch was smiling at both how successful the test was proceeding and the skill of the pilot handling the Cherubim. Jeremiah spotted what appeared to be the sniper's location ordering the Black Knight Ryders to converge upon it.

"Rush him now!" Jeremiah ordered furiously, but Lelouch already knew the sniper was not there because through his holo he saw what the sniper saw.

Instead all they found was an old abandoned alliance Ryder, which had been suspiciously moved to pose in a way to look like a machine in a sniper position.

' _Clever, these asteroids were used by the previous Alliance occupants to mine for materials for the war effort against the New Empire. They left behind some Ryders too damaged during the war to bother with, which our sniper used to set up as a decoy.'_ Lelouch thought with a smile as he was impressed by the pilot's display of resourcefulness and thinking outside of the box.

"Sir we found nothing but an old Ryder." The pilot replied over the open comm.

"Damn it…he's good." Jeremiah said, although he was pleased the sniper had outmaneuvered him he did feel a little sore from loosing.

At that moment the last shot rang out and the final target was destroyed.

Jeremiah sighed in defeat before calling out on an open communication channel.

"Alright you win this one. Come out soldier." Jeremiah ordered and to the shock of Jeremiah and Lelouch's concealed amusement the sniper emerged from a small asteroid drifting close to where Lelouch and Jeremiah were observing the mock battle.

The BKR-03S Cherubim was streamlined in design with a slightly lanky flame, but it had a specially designed head with optical scanners and sensors capable of tracking long-range targeted based on light-reflections and more. It had a long-range communication's package with two scanner dishes equipped on the back of its shoulders, one for each shoulder, capable of detecting small targets from astronomical distances. The same dishes were capable of transmitting data and invading enemy communications and networks of a ship to hack or compromise its systems by disabling some.

It was mostly black with some purple trim with a head that was similar to the Vincent, but modified to include its impressive optical scanners and sensors. It also carried a second fusion reactor built into its main body on its back to ensure enough power for long missions and flights, but as for weapons it had a specially designed VARIS sniper rifle and a pair of MSV combat knives stored within its forearms that it could use the blades in the event of course quarters combat against a melee enemy.

Like most of the other machines it had blaze luminous shielding on its forearms as well, but to help it in its sniper or recon missions it had a pair of slash harkens on its hips to use to anchor itself to asteroids or other large debris more easily. The frame also included a variety of different micro-thrusters to help it move around without being detected. Its legs and backpack had more powerful thrusters, but it could switch to a silent mode usage in which a special gas-like propellant would be used instead to move it in order to evade detection.

"How the hell did you get so close to us?" Jeremiah demanded as the image of the pilot appeared on screen.

He was young in his early twenties with dark brown skin, being a Denari native of the planet Gestalt from the Denari Expanse. He had bright blue eyes and a military-style buzz-cut black hair wearing the black and purple trim pilot plug suits of the Black Knights.

"Sniper approached the commander by being a sneaky bastard, SIR!" Domingo Clark replied with an amused smile on his face.

"Well done I am very pleased with your performance." Zero applauded.

"Thank you sir!" Domingo replied before Lelouch dismissed him with a nod ending the transmission.

"But more than that I am happy to see the Cherubim prototype perform beyond expectations we had for this mock battle." Lloyd commented joining the conversation while the pilots outside began returning to the hanger to disembark their machines.

"That is because we have chosen an excellent pilot for it." The former Emperor noted.

"That too," Lloyd answered dismissively, "but onto the real subject at hand. The data from these mock battles are going a long way in developing new units and improving the current ones." Lloyd exclaimed happily. "I'll begin plans to produce more Cherubim units as soon as we can after I go over the combat data to make some improvements."

"Even so we can't get ahead of ourselves." Jeremiah cautioned. "We are nowhere close enough to match PACT's numbers even if our forces are technologically superior to them."

"I agree so we must work on expanding our forces and numbers, but we'll need more resources to pull off such an expansion." Zero said, but Lloyd added another issue with a slight grim expression.

"We will need some money too, because there is only so much the bounties we have been collecting on these pirates and the donations we have been receiving will carry us."

"Are you suggesting we need something along the lines of a steady income?" The former emperor asked turning his head towards Lloyd who stood onto his left while Jeremiah was on his right.

"Or a really big slush fund to help cover our expenses."

"Are you suggesting we start robbing those pirates?" Jeremiah inquired with an expression suggesting a form of annoyance but a hint of curiosity mixed in.

"It would help, but I doubt they would have enough to cover our expenses properly."

"Please forgive the interruption Zero."

Lelouch turned and saw a middle aged man with blonde hair wearing glasses over his blue eyes approach him wearing the standard black knight uniform.

"What is it Donald?"

"We just received some information from the sleeper agents you planted among the pirates." Donald replied before handing Lelouch a small holo containing a copy of the information he had just received. Lelouch opened the holo and began reviewing the information quickly before taking a moment to consider his options.

"Did something happen?" Jeremiah inquired noticing Lelouch's silence to mean that something big must have been going on.

"It seems the pirates are taking us more seriously." Lelouch began to explain before using his own holo to forward a copy of the information to Jeremiah's own holo. "Captain Kidd, the most powerful and dangerous of the pirate leaders, is trying to put together a fleet for the sole purpose of hunting us down."

"Considering the threat you poise to them…getting them to unite under one banner must not have been easy." Jeremiah said thinking out loud as it was rare for most pirates to work together due to a variety of reasons, which usually revolved around getting a better cut of the spoils, seeing a chance to eliminate a competitor or both.

"Unless they have something to entice them into working together, which this information notes that Kidd is offering a very considerable amount of credits from his sponsors." Lelouch added leading Jeremiah to realize who was probably behind this push of the pirates allying with one another.

"So it's really PACT pushing for Kidd to build a pirate fleet."

"Yes and more than likely they are providing him with the credits to do so, which the amount he must be offering must be substantial."

"Then what is the plan?" Lloyd began to ask while adjusting his glasses. "Those pirates will probably tear through smaller and barely defended sectors to draw you out since looking for you blindly is obviously out of the question."

"Then we'll need to give them some bait." Lelouch answered as a plan was forming in his mind. "It is said that all warfare is based on deception, so instead of meeting them and fighting them on their terms they will fight and meet us under my terms."

"You sound to have already a plan in mind?" The blue haired cyborg asked.

"Yes and we have much to do in preparation alone, and if this works out and the proper conditions are cleared we can possibly tend to some of our other issues."

* * *

One week had passed since the meeting between the pirates and when, unknown to them, Zero had discovered Captain Miguel Kidd's intentions of assembling a pirate fleet consisting of more ships and Ryders unlikely anything seen before. As Kidd was using a remote part of the Neutral Rim as a staging area as he waited more pirates and their ships to arrive the fleet was beginning to take shape. Kidd was standing on the bridge of his flagship the Queen Mary's Revenge which was an old Solar Alliance Battleship he had managed to get his hands on and refit into a heavily armed pirate ship with more kinetic cannons than the ship was supposed to have including some newly installed laser banks.

"How much longer until the rest arrive?"

"In one hour the last of the ship should be gathered." A rugged pirate sitting behind a navigation terminal, but a few moments later another one sitting behind a communication's console spoke up.

"Captain we have a private transmission coming in for you on channel 14-Omega."

Captain Kidd rose from his chair preparing to hurry off of the bridge to reach his cabin.

"I'll take it in my cabin the rest of you will oversee the gathering of our fellow pirates."

Miguel hurried through the corridors of his ship until he reached his cabin, but upon entering he made sure to lock the door. He knew who was calling and it was important that no one outside of his cabin would be aware of the caller's identity. Such was the agreement between them, which has been a very beneficial one for him and one he seeks to continue if not just for more riches for himself…

It was just to ensure his survival for what was to come.

After making sure he was alone he activated the FTL transmitter as the holographic visage of Veniczar S. Arcadius appeared before Miguel.

"We do not like waiting Captain Kidd." Arcadius said firmly making her displeasure known.

"Forgive me Veniczar," Kidd said blowing respectfully on one knee before adding, "but I merely took a moment to ensure that our partnership remains unknown to everyone but you and I."

Even through Miguel could not see the expression of Arcadius's face beneath the mask he assumed by the calmer tone she spoke in that the masked leader of PACT had calmed down and understood.

"Are your preparations nearly complete?"

"They are," Miguel answered quickly, "we are only waiting for the last of the ships to show up."

"Excellent," Arcadius replied clearly pleased, "and you will proceed to hunting down Zero?"

"Yes and we plan to begin our attack in the northern sector of the neutral rim attacking a few outlaying settlements and pre-wrap planets in an effort to draw Zero out." Miguel said beginning to explain his plans to lure Zero out without wasting time and resources to find him. "Once he makes a move we'll converge on him…if he doesn't he'll lose support among the Neutral Rim."

Arcadius took a moment to consider this before saying, "we approve of your plan Captain Kidd, but we shall be expecting results from you soon."

"I will not fail. Just give me time to smoke Zero out and I promise he shall be dealt with in one way or another."

"Very good, but if possible we would like him delivered to us alive."

"You want Zero alive?" Kidd inquired with a curious expression.

"We want to know who his supporters are since there is no way he could have built a ship and those three machines on his own." Arcadius explained before Miguel realized what she was getting at.

"I understand and I'll do what I can to capture him alive if an opportunity presents itself."

"We will be awaiting word Captain."

With that the avatar of Arcadius vanished leaving Captain Kidd alone in his cabin until the silence was disturbed by a beeping coming from his polished metallic desk in the circular-shaped windowless room.

"What is it?" Kidd asked clearly annoyed after pushing a button on his desk to answer the call.

"Captain the last of the ships arrived, but they bring word that they captured a member of the Black Knights."

* * *

A/N: Well is this the prelude to some kind of dangerous situation for Lelouch and his Black Knights or could it be something else?

Will Garibaldi and C.C. prove Lelouch correct and find another world that would make a more suitable home base for them especially given the war that is coming.

And Claude gets her first mention in this chapter, who has the honor of being the most perverted female fictional character I have come across matching if not surpassing fictional male perverts like Issei from High School DxD and Jiraiya from Naruto.

Next chapter its Lelouch and his group facing the largest pirate fleet assembled, at least until much later in this story when a certain someone will end up topping that.

The polls for pairings have been closed for now, but I am open for suggestions. I have some decisions in mind, but I am going to see how the story and upcoming events will play out first.

As for everything else the next battle will be a difficult one, because there will be an unexpected visitor that neither Kidd nor Lelouch will be expecting.


	8. Chapter 8 Oath of Rebellion

A/N: Thank you all for those who reviewed, but I will ask that you please not spoil parts of the as this goes more for you omegadramon2. It was very upsetting, but as for the rest of you guys I greatly appreciate the reviews.

I have closed the polls deciding polls are useless for pairings and I am just going to see how it goes and determine who best works with Lelouch depending on events of the story. I am also going to try changing some parts of my writing compared to past chapters to see if that improves my writing.

Right now Lelouch fights the biggest pirate fleet assembled in recent memory, but after this it's no more easy mode for Lelouch as this just a prelude to the coming war.

* * *

Chapter 8

Oath of Rebellion

Captain Kidd wasted no time making his way down to the hanger where the captain of the last arriving pirate ship was bringing aboard the Black Knight member they had captured. This was a stroke of good luck on their part especially if they could squeeze information leading to where the Black Knights were hiding at. If they were successful in getting such information they could take the fight straight to the Black Knights and eliminate them in fell swoop and not going around blowing up random settlements until they came looking for him.

 _We'll have the element of surprise on our side which will allow us to maximize the damage we can inflict upon them._ Miguel Kidd thought with an evil smirk upon his face.

It didn't take long for him to reach the hanger where he was just in time to see two of his men secure the prisoner the pirates from the other ship had brought. He approached the captain of the ship who had captured the Black Knight member. He was slightly older than he was with cybernetic red eye replacing his original eye he had lost. He had a bald head with a long black beard with a heavy set build wearing a black trench coat with a dirty white shirt underneath with black pants and boots.

"So you are the captain who captured the Black Knight member here?" Kidd inquired approaching the man while he was talking to one of Kidd's own subordinates.

"Yes I am Captain Ed Lee the captain of the Drunken Dancer." Lee greeted with a surprisingly amount of politeness from his fellow pirate.

"I understand you captured a member of the Black Knights?"

"Aye we did," Lee said looking back at the burse and beaten Black Knight, "He was a tough one to capture. The rest of his fellows committed suicide to avoid interrogation. We got lucky with him, but we had to watch him very closely because he made attempts to kill himself."

"How did you capture him?"

"We found out we have squealer in our ranks, so we followed him and tracked him to a bar on Tydaria where he was meeting with some Black Knights after we docked there to conduct the…usual business." Lee said which Kidd understood was Lee was meeting with the corrupt members of the Mining Union to plan some raids which would help them disgrace those in their way of getting a higher position.

So it wasn't unheard of for rising executives or the Mining Union to hire pirates to raid some transports being handled by a rival executive, but rarely anyone got caught for it.

"When we attacked all hell broke loose, but I think a stray grenade we threw knocked that guy against a wall knocking him out. But before he woke up we made damn sure he couldn't suicide himself like his comrades did," Lee explained before giving Miguel a fake tooth he presumably removed from the prisoner which contained a potent poison hidden within.

"Excellent work, so why bring him to me?"

"Well our boys weren't able to convince him to talk, but seeing how your reputation for breaking people to get information out of them is legendary I thought we get a professional." The breaded pirate captain said gesturing to the burses and cuts the captured Black Knight was covered in. "He's a tough son of a bitch I'll give them, but…I didn't want to get too rough and loose our only lead."

Kidd considered this for a moment before gazing over the injuries the Black Knight member had before concluding that Lee and his men had conducted their own interrogation while being mindful to avoid accidently killing him. It seemed too good to be truth, but Kidd knew that Black Knight member was their best chance at finding Zero.

"Alright I'll get him to talk." Kidd said cracking his knuckles in his hands as a cruel smile appeared on his face.

* * *

Elsewhere in the Neutral Rim, more specifically a more remote part of it was a large space station built out of older components from older space stations and ship docks as well as parts from wrecked ships creating a haven in the middle of space for pirates and various other low-lives who sought to hide from the more civilized galaxy at large. Inside one of these bars sat a young woman in her early twenties with long black hair tied into a long top-knot ponytail with a fair skin complexion and green eyes.

She wore a simple white-shirt with black pants, combat boots and a yellow jacket.

"Icari Isidolde," Jeremiah said after walking up the woman who sat a one of the seedy bars of Lost Haven space station, "I am here on behalf of the wrinkly old maid."

Icari stopped drinking the bottle of liquor she had in her hand before looking over her shoulder at the cyborg, although wrinkly old maid could be seen as some kind of insult but Icari knew it meant something more.

"So you're the one he told me to keep an eye out for?"

"Yes, but I am not sure how much he told you about the proposal we put forth?"

"He didn't say much and thought it was best I met with your boss." Icari replied, although she didn't know who Jeremiah worked for she did know that he was someone else both parties knew and had recommended Icari to them.

"I see," Jeremiah appeared thoughtful for a moment before asking, "then could you come with me then."

Drinking what remained in the bottle before slamming down on the bar counter Icari got up off the stole, "Well lead the way."

Jeremiah led Icari to one of the many hangers within the space station where it was currently under a tight lock down by armed men who were with Jeremiah. They found a small transport ship docked in the hanger where the blue-haired cyborg gestured for Icari to follow him aboard. Upon reaching the bridge Icari came face to face with Zero who made his presence known by turning the captain's chair he sat in to face the woman before him.

"Icari Isidolde," Zero began as Lelouch eyed the woman underneath wondering if this was the person recommended to him, "Admiral Grey tells me you are one of the best mercenaries and assassins in the Neutral Rim."

An amused grin appeared on Icari's face, "well now I wasn't expecting this. So you and the Admiral know each other huh?"

"You could say that."

Few people knew, with Lelouch being among those few who knew, that Admiral Grey had been in contact with Icari contracting her services as both a mercenary and assassin to deal with problems the Solar Alliance couldn't deal with or were beyond their reach. The growing threat of PACT was one of these problems, but there were other groups who had warranted elimination by the admiral. Lelouch had been told by Admiral Grey that if he needed someone capable of accomplishing an assassination or someone of Icari's skill set as she was capable hacking through security systems and breaking into highly secured locations.

"Admiral Grey suggested I should reach out to you if I had something that someone of your skill set could help me with and could also deal a huge blow to PACT."

"Really," Icari said as her eyes narrowed in interest, "I am listening…"

"Have you been aware that PACT has been paying off various pirate groups lately to cause havoc in the Neutral Rim?"

"No I wasn't…" Icari said as Lelouch observed her fists tighten in response.

"Recently they have paid a small army of pirates being led by Captain Kidd to hunt me down and destroy me and my organization, but we're not going to let that happen." Lelouch explained before proceeding to tell Icari of her intended role. "I have a task that I require you and my chief engineer to carry out. I'll supply you with the ship and everything you need, but we need help getting through the security along with any other trouble along the way."

"So what do you have in mind then?"

* * *

The following day the amassed pirate fleet was cursing through wrap heading for the location of the Black Knight's base of operations after spending hours interrogating their prisoner to its location, although the prisoner died as a result of the interrogation he lasted just enough to learn the location of where the Black Knights were based out of. Captain Kidd was grinning evilly as he was certain to get the drop on Zero and his one ship, which only widened as he and his amassed pirate force came out of wrap. Aside from his flagship the rest of his fleet consisted of two dozen pirate destroyers, eighteen pirate warthogs and at least fourteen pirate carriers filled to capacity with eight Ryders each.

 _The Black Knights won't know what hit them and with my force we'll wipe them out and I'll be rich._ Kidd thought triumphantly as he closed in on the asteroid field where the Black Knights had established themselves inside an old mining asteroid. The asteroid belt the pirate fleet had arrived at was known as the Luarica Asteroid Belt which was a near Ryuvia Prime. At one time during the Holy Ryuvian Empire the asteroid belt was mined for precious and rare gem stones and metals found in the asteroids, but centuries of mining from both the Holy Ryuvian Empire and then the New Empire before finally exhausting the asteroids leaving hundreds of mined and hallowed out asteroids.

During the war between the New Empire and Solar Alliance the asteroid belt following their abandonment by the New Empire sought pirates and various criminal elements using them as bases, but eventually began moving towards more remote and far-flung locations finding them more ideal leaving the asteroids abandoned once again. There rumors some pirates had used them as base, but then they were found out by bounty hunters who flushed them out and dealt with them, but right now Miguel was convinced that Zero was using the asteroid belt as a base.

"Captain we just detected a ship on the edge of the asteroid belt heading in," a rugged crewmember shouted bringing up on the main monitor an image of Zero's ship heading into the asteroid.

"Follow it, but keep a safe distance we don't want to tip them off that we are here." Kidd ordered as he intended to launch a surprise attack and use superior numbers to overwhelm them before they have a chance to fight back allowing them to hopefully capture as many of their machines and their ship intact as possible for his sponsors.

As he and his fleet entered the asteroid while taking care to keep their sensors on the ship, although they lost visual of the ship through all of the debris and asteroids floating around they were able to track its projected course as it was heading for one of the larger asteroids that had been used as one of the major bases for refining and shipping off all collected ore and gems found.

 _Not a bad choice for a base, the asteroids provide camouflage that asteroid has everything including a hanger for vessels and even Ryders you can use._ Kidd thought as something of an off-hand compliment to his quarry, but as far as he was concerned he had made a mistake keeping such loose lipped men in his ranks.

"Begin deploying our Ryders and have them hold onto our ships so we can quickly launch them against the Black Knights before they have a chance to counterattack."

"Aye sir…" A crewmember replied before passing along his orders to the other ships in his large pirate fleet.

The carriers began launching their Ryders as many of them took to standing on the hulls of the warthogs and destroyers that could allow a Ryder while the rest traveled alongside the fleet as they moved through the asteroid heading straight for the base they tracked Zero's ship to.

Once they were in range six of the pirate destroyers quickly surrounded the base followed by five Warthogs joining them in their surrounding the base, which interestingly enough showed no signs of attempted resistance. The Ryders that had accompanied the Warthogs swarmed into the base, but to their shock there was nothing inside the base.

"Captain we see no signs of the Black Knight ship?" One of the pirate Ryders reported.

"That can't be right we tracked it here!" Kidd shouted over the open communication channel.

"Hold on sir we found something," Another pirate Ryder pilot reported before stepping around a large stack of empty shipping crates used by long-range transport ships. He found twelve thermonuclear bombs tied together with a device linking them together flashing red. "Oh…my god…"

Before the pirate could say anymore a grinning Lelouch while sitting aboard the bridge of his ship pushed the detonator through the remote he held in his hand.

In a blinding flash the Ryders were vaporized in a powerful thermonuclear explosion that destroyed the base sending debris in multiple directions, but within seconds other asteroids that had been hollowed out through extensive mining erupted into blinding flashes as they too have been stocked with thermonuclear bombs.

Lelouch resisted the urge to laugh in triumph, because he knew that the fight was just getting started but he knew he had dealt Kidd's fleet a devastating blow.

 _The nuclear explosions aren't the only thing you have to worry about._

Not all of Kidd's ships were caught in the nuclear blast as some had been lucky enough to be outside the blast radius, but Lelouch had accounted for that possibility which was why he had placed each set of bombs inside the asteroid mines themselves converting them to large claymore mines in a sense.

 _Not only do you have to worry about being caught in a thermonuclear explosion, but you have debris and fragments of your own destroyed ships to worry about._

True to his words a number of pirate Ryders, destroyers, carriers and warthogs were being showed by rock fragments, metal and parts of the ships caught in the initial blasts. The fact that most pirate vessels were just ships cobbled together with as many weapons it could carry around a fusion core having been mostly scavenged from junk heaps. The Drunken Dancer was among the ships destroyed by one of those explosive nuclear propelled shrapnel mines. The fact their Ryders were not professionally designed and maintained was another problem.

The casualties of their Ryders alone were horrific thanks to all of the debris flying around and ships trying to escape the blasts only worsened the situation. By the time the chaos began to settle Miguel Kidd was dismayed to see what had been the largest pirate fleet assembled in recent history had been reduced to six warthogs, ten pirate destroyers, two carriers and two dozen Ryders.

"This…this was A GOD DAMN TRAP!" Miguel Kidd roared realizing his folly, but how Zero knew they were coming was what baffled him as the whole situation seemed to him that the Black Knights had been expecting him and had more than enough time to get ready for him.

 _It's not possible he shouldn't have known this quickly._

"Captain we got incoming!" A crewmember shouted a proximity alarms began sounding in the bridge as Lelouch's vessel was charging towards the pirate ships picking off a warthog with its initial pass by using its rail cannons before shooting down a pirate Ryder unfortunate enough to be in his flight path at the time.

"ALL BATTERIES OPEN FIRE BEFORE IT CAN DROP ITS RYDERS!" Kidd roared losing all composure and restraint as he was more determined than ever to kill Zero.

Suddenly another ship belonging to Kidd's fleet erupted into flames as another vessel just like the one Lelouch commanded was conducting its own charge, but seconds later another one was detected sinking two of his carriers on its first attack run. The pirate captain went pale realizing Zero's forces didn't consist of one ship and a few Ryders. Within moments Ryders were being picked off by sniper fire thanks to the new BKR-03S Cherubim being piloted by Domingo Clark.

He had also made good use of his machine's ECM capabilities to ensure the enemy did not realize the traps set for them nor did they realize the ship they thought was Zero was in reality nothing more than Domingo feeding their sensors false information. The use of a decoy missile that was launched into the asteroid field also helped weave a convincing illusion that they were following Zero to his base.

The battle was soon joined by three Attia Ryders and eleven Knight units plus a special commander's prototype designed to be Zero's personal machine which would serve as a base when his own personal Ryder could be built and completed. Lloyd wanted to collect fresh data from Lelouch's involvements and runs on the battlefield to fine tune the machine more properly for him since all of his previous battle in a Knightmare Frame happened on Earth not in space.

It was based on the BKR-01M Knight, but it had more armor and thrusters designed more for Lelouch's use while testing a new and improved variant of the Druid system analysis complex for Lelouch's use which included a artificial intelligence to assist Lelouch with more advance advanced combat analysis and ECMs which were also being based on those used by the BKR-03S Cherubim.

His weapon of choice was a rifle similar to the one used by the Lancelot Albion, but modified and enlarged for use by a Ryder while the backpack of Lelouch's unit carried two MSV swords.

"A king must lead so that his subordinates can follow," Lelouch exclaimed proudly before commanding, "Excalibur, Dominion, Avalon and Oberon will continue using hit and run attacks to keep their ships on the defensive. P1 through P8 will all work together to pick off the remaining Ryders with R1 and R2 providing support fire."

"Yes sir!" The Black Knights said together as they proceeded to carry out their orders as the Excalibur-class ships continued to pick off and attack the pirate ships engaging them while their remaining Ryders faced the Black Knight Ryders with the Attia and Cherubim providing support with heavy firepower and pierce sniper shots coupled with ECM support.

The Knight units rushed the pirate Ryders as they fired shots from their arm mounted lasers while using their shields in a desperate effort to protect themselves. The Black Knight Ryders outmaneuvered the slower pirate Ryders before some well placed laser shots from the better trained pirates destroyed the two Ryders. Two pirate bombers among the surviving enemy Ryders tried to shoot down the passing Excalibur ships, but a sniper shot picked off one before a MSV blade from a Knight destroyed it sending its pilot to meet his maker.

The Pirate Warthogs were trying to line up a clear shot; however the asteroids and debris around them made it difficult but not impossible. Until one warthog lined up a shot before letting its anti-ship rockets fly towards one of the Excalibur-class ships the Oberon, but thankfully the Dominion managed to shoot them down while the Oberon narrowly used a large asteroid as a quick shield as it flew pass it at the right moment.

On the bridge of his flagship Captain Kidd watched with growing horror as his own forces were being torn apart by the Black Knights who not only laid a trap for them but had more ships and Ryders than they thought.

 _How did this happen? Where did their forces come from?_ Kidd thought trying to desperately comprehend where everything went wrong.

"Captain what do we do we just lost another destroyer!" A crewman shouted frantically before another announced adding to the fear-filled tension on the bridge, although of all of the ships Kidd's flagship was the only one weathering the storm so far.

"We just lost two more Warthogs and three more bombers."

"Get us out of here," Kidd began slowly before fear and panic finally overtook him, "GET US FUCKING OUT OF HERE BEFORE WE'RE KILLED!"

"Uh yes captain…" the crewmember replied as he quickly began moving the Queen Mary's Revenge as he sought to escape the asteroid intending to perform an enemy spool up of their wrap drives.

"Zero the Queen Mary's Revenge is attempting to flee the battlefield." A crewmember from the bridge of an Excalibur-class ship announced.

"So cowardly running away eh," Lelouch replied before giving orders, "units closet to it intercept it!"

The Queen Mary's Revenge used its rail cannons to shoot their way out of the asteroid field while firing missiles to keep opposing Ryders at bay. Its shields were still holding against the onslaught of energy fire from the Excalibur-class vessels. They fired their own kinetic weapons at it which inflicted some damage along its hull, but unlike the other pirate vessels the Queen Mary's Revenge was better built and was actually equipped for heavy combat.

Lelouch grinned maliciously as he began rapidly typing in commands on his keyboard controls he drew from the armrests of his cockpit. _Your ship may have better armor than the average pirate ship, but with all of your damage I doubt you can defend against this._

"Captain we have a problem!" A crew member shouted as the engines of the Queen Mary's Revenge suddenly shut down followed by the whole ship shutting down leaving communications operational. "We just lost control…our systems are being hacked from an outside source."

"I call check…" Lelouch replied smugly before signaling for his men to attack the ship with everything they had as the Avalon attacked the engines of the Queen Mary's Revenge destroying them with its Hardon Cannons crippling the ship.

With its weapons and defense systems offline it was easy prey now for the Excalibur class ships as they hammered away at it with the ship breaching fire and atmosphere.

Lelouch in his own unit flew up to the ship hovering over the location where he suspected where the bridge was.

"Checkmate," Lelouch announced leveling his machine's Super VARIS rifle at the ship as it converted into Hardon Blaster mode to deliver the finishing blow, "I win…"

A single blast of crimson energy tore into the dying pirate ship, which tore through the bridge deep within the vessel itself vaporizing Captain Kidd and his bridge crew. Lelouch and his forces pulled away before the Queen Mary's Revenge exploded signaling the end of the famed pirate ship.

"With their leader dead all we have to do is mop up the survivors." Lelouch commanded as he saw that his forces were slowly wiping out the last of the pirate fleet, although they had some ships and Ryders left but they lacked the weapons to properly challenge his forces.

"I am sure Lloyd will appreciate the combat data from this battle to further the development of our Ryders." Lelouch mused as the battle would eventually reach its conclusion, but seeing how well the battle was proceeding for him reminded him of his first battle at Shinjuku Ghetto years ago.

 _I can't recall time a battle has gone this well for me._

Either because Lelouch tempted fate or as if on cue an unexpected problem arose.

"Zero we have detected an unknown contact entering the asteroid field?"

The call came from a pilot of a Knight Ryder as it had been chasing down some Ryders trying to flee the battlefield, but they got as far as the edge of the battlefield before being taken out by the superior machine piloted by their pursuer.

"How many?"

"Just one…it's a Ryder, but I can't tell what it is or who it belongs to." The Black Knight pilot of one of his Ryders replied causing Lelouch to experience some déjà vu.

"Send me an image…" Lelouch ordered as the pilot transmitted a photo of the approaching Ryder he spotted entering the asteroid field.

It was black with red trim and colors, but upon seeing it Lelouch knew it wasn't a pirate Ryder because the machine didn't look like something someone salvaged from a junk yard or picked up off the Black Market. Its appearance didn't match any Ryder he had seen before as it had the shape and body of a Ryder, but on its left shoulder was a large missile pod with a built in shield and its left arm had a built-in katana like battle for melee combat. It had four-barrel pulse gun mounted on its right shoulder while its right arm had a built in large laser rifle.

"I order you to withdraw…do you understand me…withdraw now!" Lelouch ordered realizing the unknown Ryder was going to be trouble as he remembered how the battle for Shinjuku Ghetto went for him when the Lancelot appeared, so the former Emperor was worried he was facing a possible repeat of history.

"Sir…it's coming for me!" The pilot replied sounding panicked as the black and red Ryder quickly attacked the unfortunate man, but either caught off guard by his luck of having never faced a enemy until now capable of standing against his Ryder or lack of skill he was swiftly cut down.

"Attention all forces we have an unknown approaching the battlefield its Ryder of an unknown type and affiliation is unknown." Lelouch ordered quickly while trying to formulate a plan before the unknown machine arrives on the battlefield.

 _This isn't going to end like Shinjuku did with the Lancelot winning a tactical victory over me._

"The Excalibur, Avalon and Oberon will assist P2, P4, P6, R1, R2 and P7 in mopping up the pirates while the rest of you on me." Lelouch commanded as the units he didn't name as part of the mop up crew joined their commander near the burnt out wreck of the Queen Mary's Revenge. "We don't know what to expect from this Ryder expect its capabilities are a match for our machines and possibly more so R1 and R2 will hold back and provide support fire while the rest of you cover me. The Dominion will hold back and provide support once we have engaged the enemy."

"Zero what of my orders?" Domingo asked over an open communication channel.

"Wait for a clean shot, but after we have pinned it because from what I suspect so far the pilot and machine are quick." Lelouch expecting the pilot and the machine to be extremely capable otherwise why would it come all the way out here alone. "But I also want you to keep an eye out for any other hostiles. I can't believe that just one machine came out here to challenge us."

"Understood sir…" Domingo replied before moving his machine to find a better vantage point.

"Here it comes!" Lelouch replied as the unknown Ryder accelerated to attack speed before rushing right at them.

Just as Lelouch feared the machine was surprisingly nimble despite the armaments built into its shoulders and its rifle. Two Knight Units switched to melee combat using their lances before the Attia units fired missiles to provide cover fire for them, but the unknown enemy machine shot them down using its pulse gun before meeting the Knight units in melee combat.

During the clash Lelouch attempted to hack into the enemy machine as he had been able to do against the Queen Mary's Revenge, but to his shock and growing concern he was unable to do so.

"Activate recording measures." Lelouch replied imputing a command into his control console as the internal A.I. of his machine spoke.

"Recording engaged…observing style and searching for a pattern."

 _I hope it won't come to this, but I hope this will work as Lloyd promised it would._

Lelouch joined his fellow Black Knights in providing support fire to the two brave members of the Black Knights who sought to engage the unknown machine in melee combat. The unknown machine backed away avoiding any further melee engagements to avoid being shot at by the other Black Knights, so the machine responded by firing its missiles at its melee attackers.

The Knight units fired their machine cannons to shoot down the missiles, but the unknown enemy machine gunned down one of them with its pulse guns before evading a retaliation shot from his fellow Black Knights.

"DAN!" One of the pilots cried out for losing a second comrade against their unknown foe.

"Keep pressing your attacks the enemy will make a mistake if we keep the pressure on!" Lelouch ordered as he and the rest of the Black Knights continued their efforts to face the unknown Ryder, but ever since it broke away from melee combat with two of the Knight units before they lost one it began using the asteroids for cover.

 _It knows there is a sniper out there looking for a clean shot so it's trying to avoid staying in the open for too long._

"How much longer?" Lelouch asked the A.I. support of his machine.

"Still scanning…"

Lelouch was hoping it wouldn't come to him using that, especially since it wasn't properly tested yet. Still the battle began to worsen for him as the quick and nimble movements of the unknown Ryder allowed it to evade everything they shot at it.

 _Are skills and speed are similar to Suzaku's in the Lancelot even through the fighting style is different._ Lelouch thought examining the skill and speed his foe was using which was defiantly an obvious indication that his foe was not own experienced but possessing very exceptional reflexes and instincts. A quick shot from the black Ryder's laser rifle claimed another Knight Ryder before a shot destroyed an Attia much to the shock of Lelouch.

One Knight Unit tried to rush the unknown Ryder, but he met his end by being cleaved in half by the unknown enemy.

 _Damn it that is the fourth one we lost so far._

Lelouch continued trying to line up a good shot, but his foe was moving too quickly to line up a clear shot. Two more Knight Units used their lances to engage the unknown Ryder as they tried to attack it from behind and in front at the same time. The Ryder defeated the first one firing both missiles and its shoulder mounted pulse gun at point blank range destroying the Black Knight machine before quickly turning around to parry the lance wielding Ryder before the unknown enemy claimed another life.

The last Attia unit that had joined Lelouch's group in an effort to stop the unknown enemy attacked with missiles and Hardon Cannon shots, but the black and red machine skillfully dodged every attack while using its pulse gun to shoot down the missiles.

"Countermeasures ready…" The A.I. of Lelouch's machine announced.

"Finally," Lelouch said while weighing his options, but after seeing the black and red Ryder rush and impale the Attia unit through the stomach killing its pilot the former Emperor made up his made, "activate combat countermeasures engaging A.I. combat support."

This time Lelouch rushed the black and red Ryder intending to engage it head on, which was seen as an act of suicide by his comrades.

However aware of how questionable Lelouch's piloting skills was Lloyd had devised what he hoped would be a helpful remedy should Lelouch find himself facing a more skilled enemy pilot in combat to avoid what nearly happened to him during the final battle with his last machine aboard the Damocles.

"Dominion, listen carefully to me." Lelouch said over an open communication channel as he laid out a counterattack that he hoped would turn the tide in their favor.

Lelouch much to the surprise of his men dodged the first laser shot and the second one that came afterwards. Drawing both MSV swords from the back unit of his command unit Lelouch engaged the unknown Ryder in combat pushing it back as it only had one sword to defend itself with. To everyone's growing surprise Lelouch was matching their enemy blow for blow.

 _It's working so far thanks to the Druid's AI having scanned and analyzed the attacks of the unknown Ryder allowing my own machine to help me anticipate my enemy's movements, but this isn't something I should rely on for long._ Lelouch reason as he put power into the thrusters of his machine to push the unknown machine towards the burnt out wreck of the Queen Mary's Revenge, but either the machine realized what Lelouch intended or didn't want to be pushed out into the open the unknown Ryder began pushing back as they got in range of the wreck.

"Dominion…open fire!" Lelouch commanded at that instant as the Dominion fired, although the unknown machine was expecting the shots aimed at it the Dominion wasn't firing at the unknown Ryder.

It was aiming for the wreckage of the Queen Mary's Revenge.

The attacks of the Excalibur-class vessel hit its mark causing the vessel to explode for a second time sending shrapnel scattering as the wreck blew apart reducing it to almost nothing. The back of the unknown Ryder sustained damage from being in close proximity to the explosion while acting as an unintended shield for Lelouch.

With its thrusters damaged Lelouch began fighting back with more ferocity before his enemy has a chance to recover, but his foe proved remarkably resilient because despite the damage it was still putting up a fight. Then finally a sniper shot destroyed the shoulder mounted missile pack of the unknown Ryder creating an opening for Lelouch to shoot off the head of his enemy's machine with its shoulder mounted auto cannons before cutting off the arms of the unknown machine.

With his foe disabled Lelouch quickly backed away fearing the enemy might try to self-destruct in an effort to take him out.

"Sir we have detected that the enemy machine has been completely disabled." The captain of the Dominion called over an open comm.

"Good work Captain Ross your shots were well placed. Have one of our units tow in the unit and pull the pilot out, but take them to take every precaution in dealing with whoever it is." Lelouch said deciding to keep his distance.

"Understood sir and I just received word from the Avalon that the last of the pirates have been eliminated," Captain Ross added before asking, "Shall I recall our forces?"

"Yes," Lelouch said quickly while cautiously checking his surroundings with his machine, "gather up our people and let's get out of here but make sure all evidence of our machines are destroyed."

As Lelouch flew back towards the Excalibur he couldn't help, but wonder at that moment. _I hope Jeremiah, Lloyd and Icari are having better luck._

* * *

During Lelouch and the majority of the Black Knights efforts to deal with Captain Kidd and his pirate fleet. Lelouch assigned Jeremiah to act as overseer for Icari's mission with Lloyd to solve their problems of funding. Thanks to information they obtained from their sleeper agents including the pirates Lelouch had placed under his Geass to use as a proxy to deliver the so-called captive Black Knight. In truth Lelouch had placed a criminal who had the unfortunate luck of running afoul of him under the influence of Geass brainwashing him into a member of the Black Knights but carefully indoctrinated to give up information leading them to the asteroid field where Lelouch prepared his trap for Kidd's Fleet.

Said Pirates while aboard Kidd's flagship used a remote hacking terminal to infiltrate the Queen Mary's Revenge where information revealing where Kidd kept the funds he was receiving from PACT at.

Icari stood with Lloyd as she used a small computer to hack into a security terminal inside a dark alley on the planet of Ilo where Captain Kidd was storing his amassed fortune. Jeremiah kept an eye on Icari and Lloyd from an opposite alleyway across the street of the semi-deserted street in the seedy part of town with a detachment of Black Knights ready to provide armed assistance if they encountered opposition.

"I am almost in," Icari said as Lloyd kept a watchful vigilance, "just give me a few more seconds."

"I am not picking up anyone so keep going."

A clicking sound was heard before a hidden passageway leading into a seemingly abandoned and condemned building, which thanks to Lloyd and Icari were able to track the location where Captain Kidd hid his wealth using the information the Geass pirates Lelouch had unknowingly recruited to provide the information he needed and to help lead Kidd and his fleet right into his trap.

"Nicely done my dear." Lloyd complimented as Icari head into the passage way followed by Lloyd after he signaled for Jeremiah and the others that the path was clear.

Icari brushed the comment off, "save the compliments for later this was just the easy part."

As if to prove Icari right as soon as Lloyd and she entered inside they were met by over a dozen armed men, but Icari quickly ducked behind the stairway leading out of the underground base before hurling a grenade at the guards while pulling out and assembling an assault rifle she had disassembled and smuggled within her jacket. Lloyd merely stood his ground before bullets fired off from the armed pirates that recovered began bouncing off his personal energy shield.

"Here is a party favor for you people." Lloyd replied lazily as he extended his left arm before the palm of his hand spilt open expelling shurikens being propelled at high-speeds. He stuck one guard in the face before hitting another in the neck, but at this moment Jeremiah entered the underground passageway as his own bullet resistance attire allowed him to run in and strike down two more of the armed pirate thugs. Icari joined the fray mowing down those who were left with machine gun fire.

"I am sure we'll be seeing more resistance up ahead." Jeremiah commented before he nodded to one of the Black Knight's accompanying him to give Icari her preferred weapons of choice a katana and a wakizashi. She quickly shouldered the assault rifle over her left shoulder before taking her favorite weapons into her hands.

"No shit Sherlock!" Icari snapped before joining Jeremiah in taking point knowing that probably ahead some of their opposition would likely be carrying personal energy shields of their own.

Ever since the use of guns over the sword had become more wide spread in this age of interstellar travel new ways of protecting oneself from a gun has seen advancements as well leading to the development of personal energy shields to protect a wearer from any projectile weapon. This in turn led to a resurgent of swords being used as a preferred combat weapon for some since energy shields could not defect melee weapons like swords as they were meant to stop kinetic projectiles traveling at a certain speed otherwise movement and interacting with the environment would become problematic for the wearer.

Icari was especially gifted with a sword preferring them over guns most of the time, so much so that even her own custom Ryder reflected this.

The group made their way through the hallway which began to lead deeper underground into a larger complex, but as expected they ran into more armed resistance along the way. Unlike the previous guards most of them were equipped with energy shields making bullets useless against them, but against the blades used by Icari and Jeremiah as the latter activated his concealed blade within his right forearm.

With the Black Knight followers providing cover fire Jeremiah and Icari rushed their opposition dodging gunfire along the way with Jeremiah using himself to shield Icari's approach since his armored clothing provided idea protection against bullets. Once they were in range Jeremiah cleaved down two at once by slashing open their throats as their shields couldn't stop his blade. Icari joined in as well attacking the armed gunmen with an impressive feat of swordplay and agility at dodging the enemy's attempts to shoot her.

She stabbed one in the stomach with her sword before slashing open the throat of another with her wakizashi before skillfully using both blades to cut down another pirate.

"I hope that is it for them." Icari said after killing the last soldier, although normally this would have brought Captain Kidd back to this planet to deal with those breaking in or at least hunting them down thanks to having a live feed from this hidden safe house he had with his ship. However he was more likely to be dead at this point so there was no fear for a reappraisal.

"We should hurry and find his office." Jeremiah ordered as he and the rest of their group hurried through the rest of the underground bunker until with Icari's help after bypassed the security doors that sealed away Captain Kidd's private chambers allowing them full access.

As one would expect of such a pirate of Miguel Kidd's reputation he had a well decorated room and office filled with the finest things credits could buy or steal considering his occupation, but Icari found his tastes questionable at best.

"What a tacky office he has." Icari commented shaking his head at the bright red wall paper and the gold trimmed ornate furniture around them.

"Time for us to go to work kiddo!" Lloyd replied in his usual off-hand fashion much to Icari's annoyance.

"Who are you calling a kiddo?"

Ignoring the retort Lloyd went to work sitting down behind Kidd's desk before bringing up his computer as a holographic screen activated before him upon the table top. As Lloyd turned on the computer terminal Icari was pulling in her own portable computer ready to assist Lloyd as part of the plan.

"So all of his finance records are kept here and even money transfers are also conducted here, but still I didn't expect him to be so cautious about his money." Jeremiah commented as he and Lelouch discovered through their investigation that Miguel Kidd didn't trust his crew and wherever money was concerned all transfers and payments were done electronically.

Because of his reputation Kidd could not obviously walk into a bank so he had likely set up some accounts under some false identities and set it all up so he could manage those accounts from this computer terminal within his private safe house on Ilo. Keeping all of his money in one place like an underground vault was silly for anyone to actually do.

"Ok I am ready," Icari said as she was hooked up and ready, "so it's your turn now."

"Right, so here we go." Lloyd said as his right hand opened up as a number of fires slithered out before connecting to the computer terminal linking the scientist's mind directly to the computer.

At that moment Icari and Lloyd both went to work hacking into Kidd's personal bank accounts while at the same time they were hacking his records and histories of money transfers for the last three years to see where all of the money he received from PACT has been going. Icari was struggling to keep up and continue hacking and bypassing security, but Lloyd was seemingly having no trouble at all.

Ten tense minutes passed before Lloyd disconnected himself with a big grin on his face.

"Well the Black Knights are now stinking rich and that means I got plenty of credits to help me towards those new projects I got in mind." Lloyd said before laughing as every credit the pirate had was being wired to different accounts to then be routed to accounts controlled by the Black Knights. Pleased with himself Lloyd turned to Icari, "how did it go for you?"

"It was harder for me, but I got everything." Icari said as she was borrowing over all of the files and records they recovered. "Holy shit…the people he paid off on behalf of those PACT bastards to weaken their worlds and block any bills towards improving defense. Not to mention there is some blackmail material here he has been using too."

"Master Zero is going to have a field day with this information." Jeremiah replied with a smirk on his face pleased at the success of the mission so far, but his one regret is that he couldn't be with Zero as he dealt with Captain Kidd himself despite the plan being certain to succeed. "But we should leave before the authorities come along. I am sure the pirates probably paid them off to leave this area alone, but someone will come once word gets out that Captain Kidd is dead."

"Right we should get the hell out of here."

"That is fine by me just as long as we return as soon as possible so I can begin getting those new projects going."

* * *

Aboard the Excalibur as the victorious Black Knights were conducting a series of wrap jumps to different locations to shake any possible pursuers before returning to base after they are certain there was no way for the enemy to track them. Two arms guards stood at attention as Lelouch dressed in his full attire as Zero wearing his trademark mask entered the brig to meet the pilot they had captured from the unknown machine.

Lelouch had almost expected many things from the prisoner, but what he saw surprised him.

Standing behind the transparent door that was strong enough to withstand an anti-tank shell was a young woman who was at least five foot two standing shorter than Lelouch. When she was first pulled from the machine she had been wearing a form fitting black and red trimmed pilot suit, which has been switched out by the female guards for a white prisoner jumpsuit complete with a restraint collar. She had a petite build with periwinkle-blue hair, sapphire eyes and a slightly pale skin complexion.

Suspicious of the pilot Lelouch had a carefully conducted medical exam done while he recovered from the battle fearing she was carrying a bomb or some kind of virus, but what he found instead surprised both the doctor and him which did explain the combat performance she demonstrated.

"I am sure you know I have many questions for you, but what are you exactly? I know our medical examination of you revealed some interesting facts." Lelouch said carefully as he eyed the prisoner before him studying every movement and gesture she made.

What worried him was how calm and smug she was as she stood defiantly before him behind the glass with her arms crossed over her chest.

The young woman ignored the question asking instead, "So the famous Zero we finally meet."

Lelouch was annoyed by how she dodged the question, but decided on a new approach.

"Who are you?"

"We are many, but I suppose if you want my specific designation then it's L7NN."

"L7NN then you are not human," Zero said as this confirmed what the doctor's initial report revealed, "why did you attack us?"

"We wanted to test your strength because we suspected Captain Kidd would not defeat you. If he failed we decided to use another way to test and measure your might," L7NN answered before asking as her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "What we are curious about is how you managed to prepare such a trap for his fleet when surely you had too little time to have been made aware of one of your own getting captured unless."

When Zero didn't answer the young woman grinned.

"Or you had known it was going to happen and lured him into a trap, so did you sacrifice one of your own men?"

Lelouch remained silent as he thought about what the doctor had told him.

 _That woman has a body physically superior to our own in every way, although I would need to conduct a more in-depth examination to be sure._

 _That could mean her mind probably has better information processing ability superior to an average human as well, which all together would explain her exceptional combat performance._ Lelouch thought as his mind focused on the present before him.

"Then I assume you are with PACT then?" Lelouch replied sharply deciding to dodge the woman's question about how he pulled off his trap.

"We are PACT!"

"I see then," Lelouch said deciding to take a more direct approach, "you wanted to know how I set Captain Kidd up. Then I'll simply show you how I did it with a demonstration."

Lelouch's left hand pressed a button under his mask revealing his Geass empowered eye behind a slide back panel of his mask.

L7NN was shocked by the eye before realization dawned on her, "Your eye…the power of Geass so that's it."

This bit surprised Lelouch stopping him from using his Geass on her.

 _How does she know about Geass?_

At that moment something happened as the young woman began gripping her head as it someone was sliding a hot knife through it.

"What are you doing?" L7NN began, although Lelouch thought this was directed at him but upon observing the scene more carefully he realized the woman was speaking to someone else. "Please don't do it…why…I…."

The girl let out a scream before collapsing onto the ground passing out clutching her head. The guards who had been standing with Lelouch were just as confused as he was about what happened. Lelouch typed in a few commands on his holo he wore on his wrist to check her vitals through the restraining collar around her neck.

 _She is still alive, but what happened to her?_

Lelouch was left with more questions than answers now, but seeing that he wouldn't get any answers until either L7NN awakens he knew someone else he could ask in the meantime.

* * *

Deep within his private chambers on New Eden as she contemplated recent events Veniczar S. Arcadius was deep in thought especially since her plan to test Zero and the Black Knights worked but the loss of pilot and the machine was unfortunate. She could have put up more resistance, but in the event she was somehow defeated she was to allow herself to be captured so she could act as beacon to lead her to Zero's base.

However Arcadius's concerns about Zero were confirmed forcing a drastic action on her part.

"So the Demon Emperor and the man who first wore the mask of Zero has risen again," Arcadius mused before laughing which rose from soft laughing to near hysteric laughter as she continued to speak as the laughing slowly died down, "The man who held the power to bend all who looked upon his eyes to his will and was said to be able to influence the gods themselves."

Arcadius regained her composure prior to acting her FTL communicator. Fontana's image materialized into view within moments as he bowed respectfully before his superior.

"Fontana we command that all preparations to invade the Neutral Rim are to be hastened quickly."

This surprised Fontana, but he suspected the reason behind this order.

"It's in regards to Zero?"

"Yes he has proven to be far more of a dangerous element than we expected. Captain Kidd has failed us completely so we command that all preparations for our invasion to be accelerated before the Black Knights have a chance to grow further in strength."

Fontana wanted to ask a question, but he knew it was best not to oppose Arcadius.

"I shall contact Cullen and relay your orders to him to speed up preparations and I will contact you as soon as I have an update."

"Very good, you are dismissed." Arcadius replied deactivating FTL communication system causing his second-in-command's avatar to vanish.

"You may have defeated one of us Zero," Arcadius spoke as dozens of identical figures began moving in the shadows behind Arcadius, "but we are legion. We are the many and you are the one…or Zero heh heh…"

Arcadius once again burst into maniacal laughter joined in perfect sync with the figures standing in the shadows.

* * *

A/N: yes this is the opposition Lelouch is facing, one who is many against the one who is…nothing in a literal sense, but there is more of a comparison which I'll reveal which makes Zero and Arcadius such perfect enemies for one another.

Each one is a superhuman designed with bodies vastly superior to humans with minds better at processing information than a state-of-the-art super computer. And there is more than one, so yeah the pirates were nothing compared to what PACT and Arcadius are going to throw at Lelouch.

We got to introduce Icari in this chapter, the Tsunade Mercenary.

On a side note I was a little disappointed with the space battle, but at least the ground battle turned out a little better but I will work to improve.

Next chapter the war begins.


	9. Chapter 9 The Calm before the Storm

A/N: I had hoped for a little more feedback for the last chapter especially on that space battle, but thanks to the reviewer Reader I am going to look up the recommended site and try to see about improving my future space battles when I get to them in the coming chapters.

With that said I want to thank those who reviewed and favorite the story as I appreciate the feedback a lot.

This chapter deals with the aftermath of Lelouch's actions in the last chapter while also learns some concerning facts while needing to plan his next moves because what happens next is going to change the game.

Without delay on with the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 9

The Calm before the Storm

Lelouch sat in his office waiting for C.C. to contact him, but ever since the incident with the girl Lelouch has been in deep thought processing events that had transpired while suspecting there was more about what had happened within Compact before its transition into PACT that the green-haired immortal had neglected to tell him. The doctor aboard the ship had conducted a more in-depth examination while she was unconscious and found that his suspicions that her body was indeed genetically designed and modified heavily to be superior to humans in every way while her mind especially was heavily modified through extensive genetic engineering.

No place would have had that kind of technology except for the same place where the technology to bring him back had come from.

 _She has lapsed into what the doctor called a temporary coma showing signs she'll awaken,_ Lelouch thought recalling his conversation with the doctor after the captive had passed out following her episode. Taking her words and comments into account Lelouch realized what had likely happened. _Whoever is in charge over them realized the danger my Geass represented so she cut her off from the rest and presumably has wiped out some of her memories if not all of them to keep me from learning about their plans._

This presented another worrying problem as Lelouch had to accept the likely possibility Arcadius and PACT was aware of his Geass. He knew C.C. and Jeremiah alongside Suzaku were part of Compact, but he didn't see C.C. as the type telling people about him and his Geass.

 _Although there might be one person she could have told._

Lelouch concluded that the only one who might have known was Nunnally's daughter and possibly whatever child she might have had. Before contemplating the matter even further Lelouch got the alert that he was receiving a coded transmission on the FTL transmitter, but to his annoyance it wasn't C.C. but it was a call he couldn't ignore either.

Pushing a button and seeing no need for his mask Lelouch watched as the holographic avatar of Admiral Grey of the Solar Alliance materialized before him. It wasn't their first meeting as C.C. and Garibaldi introduced him weeks after reuniting with Lloyd and Jeremiah, but despite Grey being one of his biggest supporters in rebuilding the Black Knights he nevertheless remained wary of the man.

"Greetings Admiral I assume you are calling about the information you have received from Jeremiah?" Lelouch said politely knowing what the admiral was likely calling about.

"Yes and I have to say good work. With the information we have a list of traitors and collaborators who are tied to the pirates and PACT that he has been dealing with, but rest assured we will take care of them on our end. But once more excellent work," Grey complimented with a smile before adding, "not only with this information you retrieved but for dealing with Captain Kidd. He has eluded us for a long time, although I would have preferred he would been able to stand trial in Alliance space I am willing to accept his demise all the same."

"I don't doubt that," Lelouch said rationally knowing Kidd's reputation with the alliance, "however I fear we'll have little time before PACT begins its invasion of the Neutral Rim."

"What convinces you of that?"

"I don't know if Jeremiah told you, but after we finished off Kidd and proceeded to mop up the rest of his fleet we were attacked by a PACT Ryder sent to engage us as a means of testing our effectiveness. Arcadius wasn't convinced that Kidd could defeat us so I suspect he was being tailed by the Ryder." Lelouch explained causing the aged Alliance admiral to raise an eyebrow before asking.

"Just one Ryder?"

"It wasn't like any known Ryder we have seen from the files we have on the machines used Compact or the New Empire, and even after its transformation into PACT there was nothing on this machine."

"A new model?"

"Most likely and it killed some of my men before I was able to defeat it thanks to some tactics and setting it up. Its combat performance and its pilot were very formidable, but I guess it was thanks to having faced a similar situation years ago I knew how to best react to the situation." Lelouch explained as he remembered the battle in Shinjuku Ghetto too well, which he contributed in using his experience of that battle to help him avoid a potential repeat of it during his fight against the PACT machine. "I'll follow you a copy of the battle footage and the data we collected on the unit so far."

"That would be much appreciated," Grey said nodding his head in appreciation before asking, "Did you capture the pilot?"

"Yes, although that one presents a worrying complication. Our doctor examined her and found that she has been genetically engineered to be…well…far better than your average human to sum it up."

"PACT is producing genetically engineered pilots?"

The aged admiral was understandably alarmed by this bit of news, but Lelouch doubted that PACT would be capable of such a feat considering the state the New Empire was in when Compact overthrew it prior to its transformation into PACT.

"I doubt they probably have more of them, but I suspect a third party is producing these beings for them since considering the resources they had at the time they overthrew the New Empire I can't see them or the New Empire having the means to create such beings." Lelouch reasoned logically using the evidence on hand as he knows that much of PACT's military expansion was dependant on creating new technologies and cost-cutting measures in order to aggressive expand and build up their military.

Admiral Grey considered this a moment before nodding sagely in agreement with Lelouch, "I believe you might be right about a third party involved as I cannot even think of any place in Alliance Space capable of genetically engineering a human for combat."

"Agreed, but I'll try to see what I can get out of the pilot once she wakes up. However I am not expecting much on that front even with my Geass."

"You think she might not possess much useful information?"

"Not quite, but the report I'll be sending you along with a copy of our examination and notes our doctor made when after checking out the prisoner will provide you with a better idea. I don't quite fully understand it myself, but considering my experiences with C.C. and Geass I am keeping an open mind and not taking any chances."

"I see," Grey said clearly curious at the details of the report he would receive from Zero, "I'll contact you again later I hope your interrogation goes well."

"Thank you Admiral…" Lelouch said as Grey ended his transmission.

Not long after that a beep from Lelouch's desk alerted him to an intercom call from the brig.

"What is it?"

"The prisoner is awake sir."

"I am on my way!"

* * *

In another corner of the Neutral Rim the group of Black Knights under Jeremiah's command had landed at Tydaria to rendezvous and pay their mercenary her dues for her part in the operation. For Icari this was probably the most credits she had ever collected for a job as she had more than enough to likely retire on if she chose. Unfortunately she declined to join the Black Knights for now preferring her freelancer lifestyle as a mercenary, however she did promise she would gladly help the Black Knights with any future jobs that pay her well and hits PACT where it hurts.

"Are you sure you will not be joining us Miss Isidolde?" Jeremiah inquired, although her personality was a little on the rough side her combat skills were nothing to scoff at.

"Nah I got plenty of work and all of it lets me keep hitting PACT where it hurts, but if you guys got another job that can let me do some damage to PACT then I'll be more than happy to help. Tell Zero he can call me any time if he has a good job for me." Icari replied with smug smile as she oversaw the transfer of credits into her account from her holo she wore on her wrist.

"I have no doubt Zero will contact you should we require your services again. You are more skilled as a fighter than even your reputation suggested."

Her cocky smile grew bigger as she added, "Well I was glad to have exceeded expectations. I'll see you guys around!"

After Icari left the hanger waving to the Black Knights while walking away Jeremiah was approached by Jeremiah.

"So when can we head back I got some shopping to do because I got some overdo projects to finish." Lloyd exclaimed excitingly as he was clearly eager to return to base after his upcoming shopping spree, which only caused Jeremiah to groan in annoyance.

"As long as you don't take forever browsing over parts Lloyd because I wish to return to his side as soon as possible."

* * *

Back aboard his ship Lelouch wearing the mask and attire of Zero entered the brig where L7NN had been moved into their much more high security cell reserved for important and dangerous prisoners as a precaution. He even assigned two additional guards and gave them orders to kill her should she attempt to escape her cell.

"I see you are awake now…" Lelouch greeted calmly as L7NN noticed his presence glaring at him with raw anger in her blue eyes.

"You…because of you I have been cut off!" L7NN snapped as she balled her hands into fist resisting the urge to begin pounding the glass in anger.

"I peg your pardon?"

"Something about your Geass caused her to panic upon seeing it through my eyes so she cut me off while removing some of my memories in the process."

 _As I thought,_ Lelouch thought as this confirmed his suspicions, _but this means I may not be able to learn much…still…_

"Well you seem to have retained some memory, but how much I…let's find out," Lelouch said with a sinister tone to his words as he revealed his Geass eye, "answer my questions."

L7NN didn't have a chance to react and before she realized it she was ensnared by Lelouch's Geass as she became more obedient in seconds.

 _That confirms my Geass can work on them._

"I will answer your questions…" L7NN said in a semi hypnotic-like state.

"What are you exactly?"

"I and my sisters are called Prototypes. We are artificially created beings designed to be superior to humans in every way after many experiments in enhancing and engineering human DNA beyond its limits to create a new superior breed of humanity."

"How many of you are there?"

"Many of us…I don't know the exact number but over a hundred." L7NN replied as Lelouch began swearing at the thought that a small army of these advance genetically engineered beings existed.

"How were you created? What is your history?"

"The first of us was created and raised as a child as part of Stage One of our development, but I and the rest of my sisters are part of Stage Two. We are mass-produced through cloning that was developed as an alternate to raising each of us individually from infancy like the first of us from whom we are based from, and Stage Three introduced the Alpha who was made to be superior to all of us and the final product."

"I see, so who or what is the Alpha?"

"She was the one made superior to us and is the core of the Mindstream from which all of our minds are connected alongside her sister who was the first of us."

"Who is this sister of the Alpha? The first one you keep mentioning?"

L7NN was unable to answer that question until she offered.

"You must ask the Alpha for that information about the identity of her sister has been erased."

 _I see, so it was the first Prototype created who cut her off and erased parts of her memory to hide her identity._

"Where is the Alpha or has that information been erased from your mind as well?"

"Yes that information has also been erased from my memories when I was disconnected from the Mindstream."

Lelouch wasn't the least bit surprised by this before he asked, "Then tell me do you know where your sister the first one of your kind is then?"

L7NN didn't answer, but she didn't know the answer.

"Who created the Prototypes?"

The Prototype was unable to answer because it seemed that information had been erased as well.

 _Probably to prevent me from tracking down their leaders if I knew who created them._

"How did you know about Geass?"

"The first of us knew because the one before the current Arcadius possessed one given to him by the woman known as C.C. We suspected you had one, but we knew not its capabilities. However the first of us suspected what power it was."

The former Emperor's eyes narrowed before realizing one of the objectives Arcadius and Pact had for this battle, "So studying the strength and capabilities of my forces was just stage one. In the event of capture you were to learn as much about me and determine if I really had a Geass or not?"

"Yes and if possible use my link to the Mindstream to lead our sisters to your base."

"I see, but tell me could your connection be restored?"

"Possibly, but I would need the help of one of my other sisters to do so to regain access."

 _I see so they were afraid I would use her as a means of putting the Prototypes under the influence of my Geass through their shared hive mind-like connection, so they didn't want to risk it leading to them cutting her off and erasing some of her memories to hide critical information I could have used against them._

This caused Lelouch to wonder about the reason why didn't the Prototypes just wipe out her mind completely? Was it impossible for them or was there some alternate motive behind allowing her to keep the rest of her mind and memories intact other than selective memories being erased.

"Who built that machine you piloted against us?"

"Our sisters did through assistance of PACT who provided the resources to do so in conjunction with our own."

"Was it given some kind of long range tracking device to trace my movements in the event of your capture?"

"No because we believed you would have likely checked the machine or scrapped it out of fear of such a possibility."

 _Best if we dump the machine anyway after our engineers finish examining what is left of it just to be safe. They just might have not told her that or just kept such information from her._ Lelouch thought taking into account what he was dealing with now it was best not to take any chance. In hindsight it was a good idea on his part that he ordered the techs to keep their findings on isolated terminals to protect against infiltrations from viruses.

"What is your relationship with PACT?"

"We are mere extensions of the first."

"I see, so you are involved or closely associated with Arcadius then." Lelouch thought deciding to accept that as an explanation for now until he could find out more. Lelouch closed his Geass eye allowing the Geass power to fade from L7NN before the Prototype regained her senses and composure.

"What…what just happened?"

"That was my Geass and you answered all of my questions."

"You…did what to me?" L7NN said as her voice was trembling, which was because of the fact that after she blacked out she couldn't remember what questions Lelouch had asked her.

"Yes and that is why parts of your mind saw information erased from it, although it's sad through." Lelouch said stepping closer as he adopted a mocking tone. "For a being supposedly superior to humans you were not only beaten by one, but you were cast out once they realized you were more of a hindrance and a liability."

As Lelouch expected L7NN looked at him with raw anger in her eyes, which wasn't just because of the fact that Lelouch was the one who had beaten her but the Prototype felt betrayed and abandoned by her sisters which was feelings the masked man hoped to fan the flames of such feelings.

"JUST KILL ME AND GET IT OVER WITH!" L7NN snapped launching herself at the glass slamming a fist on it, which prompted the guards to ready their weapons but a gesture from Lelouch prompted them to lower them.

"You are my prisoner and you have more value to me alive than dead. Even though I have gotten as much information out of you as possible I believe in time I could find other uses for you." Lelouch thought as he logically came to the conclusion that if PACT did indeed have a small army of beings like L7NN and advance Ryders which could also mean other secret weapons they may not even be aware of he would need whatever advantage he could get now.

 _It's a long shot, but L7NN is arrogant and proud of her status as a Prototype. I can't imagine she took being abandoned by her so called sisters very well,_ Lelouch thought before he realized something, _Or the fact in the end she is just a expendable pawn._

"Besides wasn't that your role in all of this?" Lelouch said deciding to verbally go in for the kill using the truth. "To be sent alone against a force possessing unknown machines and ships you had little information. I would say you were expected to lose despite your claims otherwise and then just used to lead your sisters to my base where chances of you being recovered was zero as I would made sure you were killed for that before we fell."

"We're superior than you…we're superior to you." L7NN said trying to deny the truth Lelouch was making clear for her, but the way her eyes were twitching and how she tried to desperately cover her ears to ignore whatever else Lelouch would say was enough to tell the masked man that he was getting to her.

"Well you are in a cage abandoned by your so-called sisters whom I am sure they have cloned a replacement already. Only further proving you are both expendable and easy to replace, so how are you more superior to us when you are so easy to replace?"

"SHUT UP!" L7NN screamed before pounding away at the glass, but nothing she did caused her prison to budge. "SHUT UP!"

"You see…compared to a simple execution with a bullet to the head there is nothing more painful and devastating in this universe than the truth."

Smiling triumphantly under his mask Lelouch proceeded to walk away, but not before saying, "we'll continue this talk some other time."

The guards looked at Lelouch in awe as he managed to get under the Prototype's skin so easily who was left in a shivering wreck now curled up in one corner of the cell she was in knowing she couldn't escape. Some of them might have preferred she be executed, but they saw the truth in her words as killing her would be merciful compared to the harsh truth he had forced her to recognize.

"What…just what are you?" L7NN demanded before Lelouch was about to leave the brig.

"I am a Demon of Justice who came back from the depths of hell." Lelouch replied without turning around, but left L7NN alone with her guards after speaking those words.

* * *

Meanwhile word was already spreading like wildfire that Captain Kidd and his Pirate Fleet had destroyed by Zero at the Luarica Asteroid Belt, although many were skeptical of such a claim but after an investigation conducted by local military and law enforcement from Ryuvia Prime and nearby worlds they confirmed wreckage of not only Captain Kidd's ship, but the wreckage of ships belonging to other notorious pirates who had joined him to form his fleet.

It would be weeks before they could have an accurate count of how many of the Neutral Rim's most notorious pirates had been wiped out considering the clear use of nuclear weapons Zero had used, but the numbers of those slain was already considerable. So while news outlets across the galaxy was spreading word of Zero's incredible feat and planetary governments were holding their own debates about the matter and how they should regard Zero.

There was a large power vacuum every pirate was trying to fill now.

One such pirate was Cosette Cosmos.

She was feeling justified that Captain Kidd's fleet was going to meet its end and the news of its destruction didn't surprise her much, because it was not in the fashion she had expected to. She suspected that Kidd might have used the hunt for Zero as a means of killing off rivals and enemies which could have included her, but Cosette had wisely kept her distance from the now former pirate king. With other pirate groups now fighting over whom will claim the position as new top pirate Cosette was already dealing with one of her rivals who had formerly been allied with Captain Kidd.

With his demise however…the unfortunate man found himself starring down the barrel of a shotgun held up to his face.

"You know someone better pick up that phone because I fucking called it. I knew Kidd's little hunt for Zero was going to go belly up, but I thought it would be more from backstabbing than Zero wiping them out." Cosette said with a maniacal smile on her face as the terrified man had no hope of escaping as he was held fast to the wall of his own ship by two of Cosette's thugs.

"Please Cosette it wasn't anything personal?"

"Funny because I remember awhile back you said I was too small time and said other things I cannot overlook," Cosette said sweetly, but then her voice turned venomous and deadly in less than a second, "especially now that Captain Kidd isn't around to protect you from me."

"Please no…I…"

Cosette pulled the trigger ending the pirate's life and removing one of her more troublesome rivals.

"It's time for a new Pirate Queen to step up!"

Such was a similar chain of events happening as leaders of smaller pirate crews who had been protected by Captain Kidd for being used to take care of certain tasks and businesses on his behalf were now being ruthlessly hunted down and killed by rivals or other pirates and criminal bosses they had run afoul of. Those who had connections with other influential men and those who were wise enough not to make so many enemies were among the lucky ones to escape unscratched for the most part.

Yet in the certain where the most feared pirate Captain Miguel Kidd stood there was Cosette Cosmos now aiming to fill the void left by his demise.

* * *

Lelouch had returned to his cabin aboard his ship having removed his mask to massage his temples as he was reeling from the revelation that aside from PACT he was going to have to deal with a small army of genetically engineered human beings. He also knew that PACT would likely conduct its invasion of the Neutral Rim much sooner now as Lelouch realized that Veniczar S. Arcadius knows that the Black Knights are more formidable than the rest of the Neutral Rim believes and it wouldn't be hard to believe that Arcadius is likely acting on the assumption that they will keep growing stronger.

 _My only saving grace is that PACT has been dealing with civil unrest among its more critically important worlds needed for production and development of new weapons._

According to reports he had gotten about the overall state the part of the galaxy where PACT dominates has been plagued by growing civil unrest as a number of worlds have been left in severe poverty and worse since the New Empire was overthrown.

 _Arcadius will need to deal with his internal issues back home before he can commit all of PACT to full-scale invasion otherwise constant issues such as uprising and other internal issues will slow down his invasion. That is why he was using pirates and criminals to cause havoc and weaken the Neutral Rim worlds while he prepared._

Even through Arcadius would likely begin his invasion as soon as internal issues within PACT's corner of the galaxy was resolved Lelouch estimated he had at least eight months to a year to prepare if he was lucky.

 _Anything longer than a year would be preferred, but I guess it will depend on how quickly Arcadius deals with his internal issues and complete his invasion preparations._

Then Lelouch's thoughts shifted back to the Prototype he had sitting in a cell within the brig.

 _Despite the problems associated with that one there are ways I can make use of her._

The former Emperor knew his foe the Prototypes would no doubt prove to be a problem to deal with when PACT invades the Neutral Rim, but it's unlikely they would be seen on the front lines and might be saved for special missions as Arcadius struck him as the type would send more expendable pawns to their demises and reserve such formidable pawns for something else.

 _The Prototypes will also likely to be careful to avoid allowing me to capture one of their own especially if they fear my Geass could affect all of them connected to their hive mind._

However the most immediate problem Lelouch was facing was dealing with the Prototypes in combat, although he thought about using L7NN against them. Lelouch realistically knew swaying her to his side wouldn't be easy if not impossible, but either way Lelouch knew it would take time if he wanted to bring her to his side to use her against her own sisters. He knew that the realization she had been abandoned and cast aside like a disposable pawn would be his means to begin turning her, but considering the seemingly inherent superiority and arrogance L7NN has it will take time. At the same time Lelouch did however understand that chances were that it would fail, but still he knew there were still some uses for her.

 _At worst I could Geass her into a servant under my command, but her ability to act and think creativity during a battle will be limited,_ Lelouch thought recalling the performance of those he had used his Geass on to fight for him, _But there is the possibility the rest of her sisters could reestablish a connection with her and somehow seize control of her or wipe her mind to erase my command…but could that be even possible?_

Lelouch was certain his Geass couldn't be overwritten, and considering he had managed to use his Geass on the collective human unconsciousness so he didn't doubt his power could affect the Prototypes and any mind linked to their hive mind. Although those who had been cut off like L7NN and with the possibility of a restored connection left some questions on Lelouch's mind. Would the order he gave spread to the rest of them or could they wipe her mind again to wipe out the previous order?

There was so much to contemplate and plan for, but either way Lelouch needed to speak with C.C. and get clarification on matters that needed to be discussed.

* * *

Within the royal palace of New Eden the leaders of PACT consisting of Veniczar S. Arcadius was sitting at a rectangle-shaped dinner table with Suzaku and Fontana present. Suzaku kept a neutral expression on his face, but he had some suspicious to the purpose he was summoned to New Eden so suddenly after news of Captain Kidd was killed by Zero. He wasn't sure if Arcadius suspected him, but Suzaku could think of no other reason for being summoned.

Suzaku took a moment to gaze around the royal dining room, which was one of many within the palace, but this room was usually used by the Emperor and his family. Suzaku remembered the dining rooms at the Pendragon Palace in Britannia, but the grandeur and ornate furniture paled in comparison to what the New Eden Royal Dining Room possessed. Like some of the rooms the walls had been painted blood red and much of the room remained untouched save for the fact that the only occupants in the room were Suzaku, Fontana and Arcadius while heavily armed guards stood outside of the room beyond the doors while equally heavily armed patrols stood watch outside.

"Kururugi," Arcadius said suddenly snapping Suzaku out of his thoughts, "do you know why we have summoned you to New Eden?"

"I wasn't informed Veniczar," Suzaku replied respectfully, but he knew the answer.

"We recall that you were from a planet called Earth, which has been claimed to be the true cradle of humanity before it was rediscovered and conquered by the New Empire," Arcadius began before stopping for a moment to allow an uneasy silence to fill the room, "however it is the same world where Zero first appeared."

Fontana was surprised by this information, but he kept silence yet he listened intently to the on-going conversation between Suzaku and Arcadius.

"Yes, although I admit I was surprised someone would don the mantle seeing that I had personally killed the first and original Zero, but for a time I had become the second Zero." Suzaku admitted knowing that attempting to lie would only work against him. He had feared something like this would happen even through very few people in PACT knew the story of Zero with Arcadius being among those who didn't know.

 _So…you told her didn't you?_ Suzaku thought in annoyance as he knew who had likely told Arcadius of Zero, although the former Knight of the Round reasoned that there was no way he could have known what Arcadius was going to become.

"You were Zero for time?" Arcadius said seeming genuinely surprised by this admittance which Suzaku couldn't tell if her surprise was the result of her expecting him to lie or she wasn't told that detail.

"I was chosen to succeed the first Zero and continue on as a Knight of Justice, but it was the part of a elaborate lie and plan the first Zero began to unify the world. However to make the plan work I had to kill the first Zero, who had assumed the mantle of 99th Emperor of Britannia who conquered the world and unifying in using fear and force."

"Why would he need to contact such a plan? Surely there had to be other ways to accomplish such a goal?" Arcadius inquired, although she was likely familiar with the full story it was likely she was trying to gleam information from Suzaku by hearing his version of events.

"I would say the life of the first Zero was a sad and tragic one in which he came from the Holy Britannian Empire's royal family, which unlike the New Eden Royal Family was more ambitious and treacherous by nature which was due to the Empire having built itself up on the ideals of Social Darwinism believing in the strong should stand above the weak." Suzaku said in a solemn tone as he remembered from Lelouch as children he had learned about the cold truths of the dangers of greed and ambition especially in families of the Britannia Royal Family and even his own. "The Britannian Royal Family lived by these ideas and so there was always fierce competition between the children of the Emperor to determine who the next Emperor would be. As such there were many who were killed by assassination by their own family or members of the nobility who backed a possible successor."

"The first Zero was caught up in this competition was he not?"

"Yes he was…his own mother, an Empress and one of the Emperor's many consorts, was a victim of this. Even his younger sister barely survived that ordeal resulting in her becoming blind and paralyzed from the waist down." Suzaku explained before he continued with the story, "After confronting the Emperor for the lack of action towards dealing with the assassins and failing to visit his own daughter they both ended up banished to my home country of Japan to serve as bargaining tools as political hostages. The result of these events left him with a deep hatred for his father and his former country and a difficulty to trust anyone."

Arcadius listened carefully before saying, "Betrayal pushed him towards the plan you spoke of to unify the world."

"Yes that is correct," Suzaku said before proceeding to tell Arcadius and Fontana the history of Zero including events surrounding his first appearance both public and otherwise. However Suzaku was extremely careful to avoid revealing anything about the Thought Elevators and was forced to craft a convincing lie using elements of the truth, a trick he had learned from Lelouch himself. Creating a convincing lie that Arcadius wouldn't see through however was the most challenging part especially given the nature of the information that Suzaku feared Arcadius could potentially use if he wasn't careful.

Thankfully for all of the time Suzaku has been alive had given him invaluable experience and wisdom in his old age.

The former Knight of the Round had spent over an hour explaining the details and life of Zero before he had slain him by his own hand, but Suzaku was cautious to leave out as much sensitive information about the Thought Elevators as he could and what Charles zi Britannia had originally intended for them.

In the end Suzaku convinced Arcadius that in place of the Thought Elevators that Charles zi Britannia was creating devices around the world to amplify his own Geass to rewrite the memories of everyone on Earth forcing Lelouch to use his own Geass to counter it and prevent it from working. It was close to what Charles had intended with the Ragnarök Connection, but the method was very different. This allowed him to provide a better cover and justification as to why Lelouch resorted to his method of self-sacrifice in the end despite the betrayal of the Black Knights.

Arcadius was silent after Suzaku finished, which made the old man nervous but he concealed it well.

"I see your information has been informative Kururugi so we wish for you to assume command of New Eden's space defense network while Fontana can focus more on research and development of our new weapons. I will be sending Cullen to oversee preparations of our invasion into the Neutral Rim, which I hope will be ready before the year is out." Arcadius said, but Suzaku realized something in that instant.

 _You're keeping me close to home so you can watch my movements more carefully._

* * *

Aboard his ship Lelouch was reclining in his chair when finally a FTL call finally came in before Lelouch accepted it watching the avatar of C.C. materialize.

"You seemed very eager to talk to me." C.C. replied in her usual tone as Lelouch merely stared at her before asking bluntly.

"When were you going to tell me about the Prototypes?"

The green haired immortal seemed surprised, but in that instance Lelouch knew that the green haired immortal did know about them.

"How did you find out?"

"One of them attacked us after we had finished off Captain Kidd and we began a mop up of his forces. We captured the pilot, but the mind of pilot is linked to the Prototype leader who is close to Arcadius."

C.C. sighed before deciding to admit, "Yes I know, because I knew the one who is the center of their hive mind."

"Why did you keep this from me?"

"Because it was already difficult trying to give you a reason to go on and become Zero again. I feared if you knew about the Prototypes it would have affected your decision negatively, but I swear I intended to tell you when the time was right." C.C. explained defending her position, but eyeing her carefully Lelouch was certain there was more to it.

"You are hiding something else aren't you? You wouldn't have kept this kind of information from me unless you had a reason for it."

"Lelouch this isn't a discussion to have over an open communication, but yes I had others for hiding this information from you." C.C. explained gently before adding, "But I ask you to please let me kept this secret for awhile longer and in exchange I'll tell what I know about the Prototypes."

Lelouch was shocked to see a pained expression on C.C's face, although he wanted to press her for more information and wanted the entire story the former Emperor relented.

"Alright tell me what you know, but I will expect you to tell me everything at some point."

C.C. was hesitant before taking a deep breath, "I swear to you that I will when I feel the time is right."

* * *

A/N: Well that ends the chapter as some revelations and information on the formidable opposition Lelouch shall be facing as some details about the Prototypes come to light.

Even through Icari didn't join the Black Knights she'll be back later.

Arcadius is suspicious of Suzaku so now she is keeping him under close watch as a precaution, but thankfully whoever told Arcadius about Zero didn't mention the Thought Elevators and what Charles had really tried to do with them. So can you blame Suzaku for being concerned about what she might have tried to attempt if she knew.

So what else could C.C. know that she isn't comfortable with telling Lelouch until later and what her involvement with the Prototypes is and how she came to be aware of them?

Such details and more will be revealed in the coming chapters, but I am deciding now how much of the upcoming war chapters to do before coming to the starting scene of the Sunrider game. I feel it's time to sound the drums of war, but will Lelouch have enough time to get ready for the storm that is coming earlier now?

Thank you all in advance for your reviews and I greatly appreciate them.


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